Thissledown
The thissledown by wind's a-roll'dIn Fall along the zunny plain,Did catch the grass, but lose its hold,Or cling to bennets, but in vain.
But when it zwept along the grass,An' zunk below the hollow's edge,It lay at rest while winds did passAbove the pit-bescreenen ledge.
The plain ha' brightness wi' his strife,The pit is only dark at best,There's pleasure in a worksome life,An' sloth is tiresome wi' its rest.
Zoo, then, I'd sooner beaer my peaert,Ov all the trials vo'k do rue,Than have a deadness o' the heart,Wi' nothen mwore to veel or do.
Words in this poem
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Thissledown 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, Thissledown, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect (1844–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/barnes-dorset/thissledown.html, id L02203.
Form and metre
Thissledown is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 12% 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 ABAB roll'dA · plainB · holdA · vainB
- 2 ABAB grassA · edgeB · passA · ledgeB
- 3 ABAB strifeA · bestB · lifeA · restB
- 4 ABAB peaertA · rueB · heartA · doB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The thissledown by wind's a-roll'd | 8 | ········ |
| In Fall along the zunny plain, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Did catch the grass, but lose its hold, | 8 | ········ |
| Or cling to bennets, but in vain. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But when it zwept along the grass, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| An' zunk below the hollow's edge, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| It lay at rest while winds did pass | 8 | ········ |
| Above the pit-bescreenen ledge. | 8 | ········ |
| The plain ha' brightness wi' his strife, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The pit is only dark at best, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| There's pleasure in a worksome life, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| An' sloth is tiresome wi' its rest. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Zoo, then, I'd sooner beaer my peaert, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Ov all the trials vo'k do rue, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Than have a deadness o' the heart, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Wi' nothen mwore to veel or do. | 8 | ········ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.