The White Road Up Athirt the Hill
When hot-beam'd zuns do strik right down,An' burn our zweaty feaezen brown;An' zunny slopes, a-lyen nigh,Be back'd by hills so blue's the sky;Then, while the bells do sweetly cheemUpon the champen high-neck'd team,How lively, wi' a friend, do seemThe white road up athirt the hill.
The zwellen downs, wi' chalky tracksA-climmen up their zunny backs,Do hide green meaeds an' zedgy brooks.An' clumps o' trees wi' glossy rooks,An' hearty vo'k to laugh an' zing,An' parish-churches in a string,Wi' tow'rs o' merry bells to ring,An' white roads up athirt the hills.
At feaest, when uncle's vo'k do comeTo spend the day wi' us at hwome,An' we do lay upon the bwoardThe very best we can avvword,The wolder woones do talk an' smoke,An' younger woones do play an' joke,An' in the evenen all our vo'kDo bring em gwain athirt the hill.
An' while the green do zwarm wi' woldAn' young, so thick as sheep in vwold,The bellows in the blacksmith's shop,An' miller's moss-green wheel do stop,An' lwonesome in the wheelwright's shed'S a-left the wheelless waggon-bed;While zwarms o' comen friends do treadThe white road down athirt the hill.
An' when the winden road so white,A-climmen up the hills in zight,Do leaed to pleaezen, east or west,The vu'st a-known, an' lov'd the best,How touchen in the zunsheen's glow,Or in the sheaedes that clouds do drowUpon the zunburnt downs below,'S the white road up athirt the hill.
What peaceful hollows here the longWhite roads do windy round among!Wi' deaeiry cows in woody nooks,An' haymeaekers among their pooks,An' housen that the trees do screenFrom zun an' zight by boughs o' green!Young blushen beauty's hwomes betweenThe white roads up athirt the hills.
Words in this poem
- backs n.
- Among leather dealers, the thickest and stoutest tanned hides.
- wold n.
- A wood; a forest. [OE. wold, wald, AS. weald, wald, a wood, forest; akin to OFries. & OS. wald, D. woud, G. wald, Icel. völlr, a field, and probably to Gr. va a garden, inclosure.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The White Road Up Athirt the Hill is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect, Project Gutenberg ebook #21785; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Barnes, The White Road Up Athirt the Hill, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect (1844–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/barnes-dorset/the-white-road-up-athirt-the-hill.html, id L02052.
Form and metre
The White Road Up Athirt the Hill is 48 lines in 6 stanzas of 8 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 62% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 27% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCC- downA · brownA · nighB · skyB · cheemC · teamC · seemC · hill
- 2 AABBCCC- tracksA · backsA · brooksB · rooksB · zingC · stringC · ringC · hills
- 3 ----AA-- come · hwome · bwoard · avvword · smokeA · jokeA · vo'k · hill
- 4 AABBCCC- woldA · vwoldA · shopB · stopB · shedC · bedC · treadC · hill
- 5 AABBCCC- whiteA · zightA · westB · bestB · glowC · drowC · belowC · hill
- 6 --AABBB- long · among · nooksA · pooksA · screenB · greenB · betweenB · hills
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When hot-beam'd zuns do strik right down, | 8 | ········ |
| An' burn our zweaty feaezen brown; | 8 | ··/····· |
| An' zunny slopes, a-lyen nigh, | 7 | ······· |
| Be back'd by hills so blue's the sky; | 8 | ········ |
| Then, while the bells do sweetly cheem | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Upon the champen high-neck'd team, | 8 | ········ |
| How lively, wi' a friend, do seem | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The white road up athirt the hill. | 8 | ········ |
| The zwellen downs, wi' chalky tracks | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A-climmen up their zunny backs, | 8 | ········ |
| Do hide green meaeds an' zedgy brooks. | 8 | ········ |
| An' clumps o' trees wi' glossy rooks, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| An' hearty vo'k to laugh an' zing, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| An' parish-churches in a string, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Wi' tow'rs o' merry bells to ring, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| An' white roads up athirt the hills. | 8 | ········ |
| At feaest, when uncle's vo'k do come | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To spend the day wi' us at hwome, | 8 | ········ |
| An' we do lay upon the bwoard | 8 | ········ |
| The very best we can avvword, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The wolder woones do talk an' smoke, | 8 | ········ |
| An' younger woones do play an' joke, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| An' in the evenen all our vo'k | 9 | ·······/· |
| Do bring em gwain athirt the hill. | 8 | ········ |
| An' while the green do zwarm wi' wold | 8 | ········ |
| An' young, so thick as sheep in vwold, | 8 | ········ |
| The bellows in the blacksmith's shop, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| An' miller's moss-green wheel do stop, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| An' lwonesome in the wheelwright's shed | 9 | ······/·· |
| 'S a-left the wheelless waggon-bed; | 9 | ········· |
| While zwarms o' comen friends do tread | 8 | ········ |
| The white road down athirt the hill. | 8 | ········ |
| An' when the winden road so white, | 8 | ········ |
| A-climmen up the hills in zight, | 8 | ········ |
| Do leaed to pleaezen, east or west, | 8 | ········ |
| The vu'st a-known, an' lov'd the best, | 8 | ········ |
| How touchen in the zunsheen's glow, | 8 | ········ |
| Or in the sheaedes that clouds do drow | 8 | ········ |
| Upon the zunburnt downs below, | 8 | ········ |
| 'S the white road up athirt the hill. | 9 | ········· |
| What peaceful hollows here the long | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| White roads do windy round among! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Wi' deaeiry cows in woody nooks, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| An' haymeaekers among their pooks, | 8 | ········ |
| An' housen that the trees do screen | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| From zun an' zight by boughs o' green! | 8 | ········ |
| Young blushen beauty's hwomes between | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The white roads up athirt the hills. | 8 | ········ |
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