Woak Wer Good Enough Woonce
Ees: now mahogany's the goo,An' good wold English woak won't do.I wish vo'k always mid avvwordHot meals upon a woaken bwoard,As good as thik that took my cupAn' trencher all my growen up.Ah! I do mind en in the hall,A-reachen all along the wall,Wi' us at father's end, while totherDid teaeke the maidens wi' their mother;An' while the risen steam did spreadIn curlen clouds up over head,Our mouths did wag, an' tongues did run,To meaeke the maidens laugh o' fun.
A woaken bedstead, black an' bright,Did teaeke my weary bwones at night,Where I could stratch an' roll aboutWi' little fear o' vallen out;An' up above my head a peaeirOv ugly heads a-carv'd did steaere,An' grin avore a bright vull moonA'most enough to frighten woone.An' then we had, vor cwoats an' frocks,Woak cwoffers wi' their rusty locksAn' neaemes in nails, a-left behindBy kinsvo'k dead an' out o' mind;Zoo we did get on well enoughWi' things a-meaede ov English stuff.But then, you know, a woaken stickWer cheap, vor woaken trees wer thick.When poor wold Gramfer Green wer young,He zaid a squirrel mid a-sprungAlong the dell, vrom tree to tree,Vrom Woodcomb all the way to Lea;An' woak wer all vo'k did avvword,Avore his time, vor bed or bwoard.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- trencher n.
- One who trenches; esp., one who cuts or digs ditches. [OE. trencheoir, F. tranchoir, fr. trancher to cut, carve. See Trench, v. t.]
- grin n.
- A snare; a gin. [AS. grin.]
- dell n.
- A small, retired valley; a ravine. [AS. del, akin to E. dale; cf. D. delle, del, low ground. See Dale.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Woak Wer Good Enough Woonce 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, Woak Wer Good Enough Woonce, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect (1844–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/barnes-dorset/woak-wer-good-enough-woonce.html, id L02109.
Form and metre
Woak Wer Good Enough Woonce is 36 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 89% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% 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 AA--BBCCDDEEFF gooA · doA · avvword · bwoard · cupB · upB · hallC · wallC · totherD · motherD · spreadE · headE · runF · funF
- 2 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ-- brightA · nightA · aboutB · outB · peaeirC · steaereC · moonD · wooneD · frocksE · locksE · behindF · mindF · enoughG · stuffG · stickH · thickH · youngI · sprungI · treeJ · leaJ · avvword · bwoard
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ees: now mahogany's the goo, | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| An' good wold English woak won't do. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I wish vo'k always mid avvword | 8 | ···/···· |
| Hot meals upon a woaken bwoard, | 8 | ········ |
| As good as thik that took my cup | 8 | ········ |
| An' trencher all my growen up. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Ah! I do mind en in the hall, | 8 | ········ |
| A-reachen all along the wall, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Wi' us at father's end, while tother | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Did teaeke the maidens wi' their mother; | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| An' while the risen steam did spread | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In curlen clouds up over head, | 8 | ········ |
| Our mouths did wag, an' tongues did run, | 8 | /······· |
| To meaeke the maidens laugh o' fun. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A woaken bedstead, black an' bright, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Did teaeke my weary bwones at night, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Where I could stratch an' roll about | 8 | ········ |
| Wi' little fear o' vallen out; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| An' up above my head a peaeir | 8 | ········ |
| Ov ugly heads a-carv'd did steaere, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| An' grin avore a bright vull moon | 8 | ········ |
| A'most enough to frighten woone. | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| An' then we had, vor cwoats an' frocks, | 8 | ········ |
| Woak cwoffers wi' their rusty locks | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| An' neaemes in nails, a-left behind | 8 | ········ |
| By kinsvo'k dead an' out o' mind; | 8 | ········ |
| Zoo we did get on well enough | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Wi' things a-meaede ov English stuff. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But then, you know, a woaken stick | 8 | ········ |
| Wer cheap, vor woaken trees wer thick. | 8 | ········ |
| When poor wold Gramfer Green wer young, | 8 | ········ |
| He zaid a squirrel mid a-sprung | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Along the dell, vrom tree to tree, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Vrom Woodcomb all the way to Lea; | 8 | ········ |
| An' woak wer all vo'k did avvword, | 8 | ········ |
| Avore his time, vor bed or bwoard. | 8 | ········ |
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