The Widow's House
I went hwome in the dead o' the night,When the vields wer all empty o' vo'k,An' the tuns at their cool-winded heightWer all dark, an' all cwold 'ithout smoke;An' the heads o' the trees that I pass'dWer a-swayen wi' low-ruslen sound,An' the doust wer a-whirl'd wi' the blast,Aye, a smeech wi' the wind on the ground.
Then I come by the young widow's hatch,Down below the wold elem's tall head,But noo vinger did lift up the latch,Vor the vo'k wer so still as the dead;But inside, to a tree a-meaede vast,Wer the childern's light swing, a-hung low,An' a-rock'd by the brisk-blowen blast,Aye, a-swung by the win' to an' fro.
Vor the childern, wi' pillow-borne head,Had vorgotten their swing on the lawn,An' their father, asleep wi' the dead,Had vorgotten his work at the dawn;An' their mother, a vew stilly hours,Had vorgotten where he sleept so sound,Where the wind wer a-sheaeken the flow'rs,Aye, the blast the feaeir buds on the ground.
Oh! the moon, wi' his peaele lighted skies,Have his sorrowless sleepers below.But by day to the zun they must riseTo their true lives o' tweil an' ov ho.Then the childern wull rise to their fun,An' their mother mwore sorrow to veel,While the air is a-warm'd by the zun,Aye, the win' by the day's vi'ry wheel.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- 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.]
- latch v. t.
- To smear; to anoint. [Cf. F. lécher to lick (of German origin). Cf. Lick.]
- blowen n.
- A prostitute; a courtesan; a strumpet. [Low] Smart.
- stilly a.
- Still; quiet; calm.
- sorrowless a.
- Free from sorrow.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Widow's House 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 Widow's House, 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-widow-s-house.html, id L02324.
Form and metre
The Widow's House is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.1 syllables. 9% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 A-A-BCBC nightA · vo'k · heightA · smoke · pass'dB · soundC · blastB · groundC
- 2 ABABCDCD hatchA · headB · latchA · deadB · vastC · lowD · blastC · froD
- 3 ABAB-C-C headA · lawnB · deadA · dawnB · hours · soundC · flow'rs · groundC
- 4 ABAB-C-C skiesA · belowB · riseA · hoB · fun · veelC · zun · wheelC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I went hwome in the dead o' the night, | 9 | ········· |
| When the vields wer all empty o' vo'k, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| An' the tuns at their cool-winded height | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Wer all dark, an' all cwold 'ithout smoke; | 9 | ········· |
| An' the heads o' the trees that I pass'd | 9 | ········· |
| Wer a-swayen wi' low-ruslen sound, | 9 | ········· |
| An' the doust wer a-whirl'd wi' the blast, | 9 | ········· |
| Aye, a smeech wi' the wind on the ground. | 9 | ········· |
| Then I come by the young widow's hatch, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Down below the wold elem's tall head, | 9 | ········· |
| But noo vinger did lift up the latch, | 9 | ········· |
| Vor the vo'k wer so still as the dead; | 9 | ········· |
| But inside, to a tree a-meaede vast, | 9 | ·˘/······ |
| Wer the childern's light swing, a-hung low, | 9 | ········· |
| An' a-rock'd by the brisk-blowen blast, | 9 | ········· |
| Aye, a-swung by the win' to an' fro. | 9 | ········· |
| Vor the childern, wi' pillow-borne head, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Had vorgotten their swing on the lawn, | 9 | ········· |
| An' their father, asleep wi' the dead, | 9 | ··/˘˘/··· |
| Had vorgotten his work at the dawn; | 9 | ········· |
| An' their mother, a vew stilly hours, | 9 | ··/˘··/˘/ |
| Had vorgotten where he sleept so sound, | 9 | ········· |
| Where the wind wer a-sheaeken the flow'rs, | 9 | ········· |
| Aye, the blast the feaeir buds on the ground. | 9 | ········· |
| Oh! the moon, wi' his peaele lighted skies, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Have his sorrowless sleepers below. | 9 | ··/˘˘/˘·· |
| But by day to the zun they must rise | 9 | ········· |
| To their true lives o' tweil an' ov ho. | 9 | ········· |
| Then the childern wull rise to their fun, | 10 | ·········· |
| An' their mother mwore sorrow to veel, | 9 | ··/˘·/˘·· |
| While the air is a-warm'd by the zun, | 9 | ········· |
| Aye, the win' by the day's vi'ry wheel. | 9 | ········· |
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