Woone Rule
An' while I zot, wi' thoughtvul mind,Up where the lwonesome Coombs do wind,An' watch'd the little gully slideSo crooked to the river-zide;I thought how wrong the Stour did zeemTo roll along his ramblen stream,A-runnen wide the left o' south,To vind his mouth, the right-hand zide.
But though his stream do teaeke, at mill.An' eastward bend by Newton Hill,An' goo to lay his welcome boonO' daily water round Hammoon,An' then wind off ageaen, to runBy Blanvord, to the noonday zun,'Tis only bound by woone rule all,An' that's to vall down steepest ground.
An' zoo, I thought, as we do bendOur way drough life, to reach our end,Our God ha' gi'ed us, vrom our youth,Woone rule to be our guide--His truth.An' zoo wi' that, though we mid teaekeWide rambles vor our callens' seaeke,What is, is best, we needen fear,An' we shall steer to happy rest.
Words in this poem
- gully v. i.
- To flow noisily. Johnson.
- stour n.
- A battle or tumult; encounter; combat; disturbance; passion. [OF. estour, estor, tumult, combat, of Teutonic origin. See Storm.]
- boon n.
- A prayer or petition. [OE. bone, boin, a petition, fr. Icel. b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, AS. b, and perh. to E. ban; but influenced by F. bon good, fr. L. bonus. Ban, Bounty.]
- noonday n.
- Midday; twelve o'clock in the day; noon.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Woone Rule 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, Woone Rule, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect (1844–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/barnes-dorset/woone-rule.html, id L02233.
Form and metre
Woone Rule is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 25% 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 AABBCC-B mindA · windA · slideB · zideB · zeemC · streamC · south · zideB
- 2 AABB---- millA · hillA · boonB · hammoonB · run · zun · all · ground
- 3 AABBCC-- bendA · endA · youthB · truthB · teaekeC · seaekeC · fear · rest
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 |
|---|---|---|
| An' while I zot, wi' thoughtvul mind, | 8 | ········ |
| Up where the lwonesome Coombs do wind, | 9 | ········· |
| An' watch'd the little gully slide | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| So crooked to the river-zide; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I thought how wrong the Stour did zeem | 8 | ········ |
| To roll along his ramblen stream, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| A-runnen wide the left o' south, | 8 | ········ |
| To vind his mouth, the right-hand zide. | 8 | ········ |
| But though his stream do teaeke, at mill. | 8 | ········ |
| An' eastward bend by Newton Hill, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| An' goo to lay his welcome boon | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| O' daily water round Hammoon, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| An' then wind off ageaen, to run | 8 | ········ |
| By Blanvord, to the noonday zun, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'Tis only bound by woone rule all, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| An' that's to vall down steepest ground. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| An' zoo, I thought, as we do bend | 8 | ········ |
| Our way drough life, to reach our end, | 8 | /·····/· |
| Our God ha' gi'ed us, vrom our youth, | 8 | /·····/· |
| Woone rule to be our guide--His truth. | 8 | ····/··· |
| An' zoo wi' that, though we mid teaeke | 8 | ········ |
| Wide rambles vor our callens' seaeke, | 8 | ·/˘·//˘· |
| What is, is best, we needen fear, | 8 | ········ |
| An' we shall steer to happy rest. | 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.