Part V
Now in the fifth part I’ll endeavour to show,How things with her parents and sister did go;Her mother and sister of life are bereft,And now all alone the old squire is left.
Who hearing his daughter was married so brave,He said, ‘In my noddle a fancy I have;Dressed like a poor man now a journey I’ll make,And see if she on me some pity will take.’
Then dressed like a beggar he went to her gate,Where stood his daughter, who looked very great;He cried, ‘Noble lady, a poor man I be,And am now forced to crave charity.’
With a blush she asked him from whence that he came;And with that he told her, and likewise his name.She cried ‘I’m your daughter, whom you slighted so,Yet, nevertheless, to you kindness I’ll show.
‘Through mercy the Lord hath provided for me;Pray, father, come in and sit down then,’ said she.Then the best provisions the house could afford,For to make him welcome was set on the board.
She said, ‘You are welcome, feed hearty, I pray,And, if you are willing, with me you shall stay,So long as you live.’ Then he made this reply:‘I only am come now thy love for to try.
‘Through mercy, my dear child, I’m rich and not poor,I have gold and silver enough now in store;And for this love which at thy hands I have found,For thy portion I’ll give thee ten thousand pound.’
So in a few days after, as I understand,This man he went home, and sold off all his land,And ten thousand pounds to his daughter did give,And now altogether in love they do live.
Words in this poem
- endeavour v. t.
- To exert physical or intellectual strength for the attainment of; to use efforts to effect; to strive to achieve or reach; to try; to attempt. [OE. endevor; pref. en- + dever, devoir, duty, F. devoir: cf. F. se mettre en devoir de faire quelque chose to try to do a thing, to go about it. See Devoir, Deb]
- noddle n.
- The head; -- used jocosely or contemptuously. [OE. nodil, nodle; perh. fr. nod, because the head is the nodding part of the body, or perh. akin to E. knot; cf. Prov. E. nod the nape of the neck.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- crave v. t.
- To ask with earnestness or importunity; to ask with submission or humility; to beg; to entreat; to beseech; to implore. [AS. crafian; akin to Icel. krefia, Sw. kr, Dan. kr.]
- 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,]
- altogether adv.
- All together; conjointly. [OE. altogedere; al all + togedere together. See Together.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Part V is in the public domain. This text is taken from Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England, Project Gutenberg ebook #649; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Bell, Part V, in Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England (1857), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #649, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bell-ancient-poems/part-v.html, id L11938.
Form and metre
Part V is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 6 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in anapaestic 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 AABB showA · goA · bereftB · leftB
- 2 AABB braveA · haveA · makeB · takeB
- 3 AA-- gateA · greatA · be · charity
- 4 AABB cameA · nameA · soB · showB
- 5 AABB meA · sheA · affordB · boardB
- 6 AABB prayA · stayA · replyB · tryB
- 7 --AA poor · store · foundA · poundA
- 8 AABB understandA · landA · giveB · liveB
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Now in the fifth part I’ll endeavour to show, | 11 | ······˘/˘·· |
| How things with her parents and sister did go; | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| Her mother and sister of life are bereft, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘···˘/ |
| And now all alone the old squire is left. | 10 | ···˘/····· |
| Who hearing his daughter was married so brave, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| He said, ‘In my noddle a fancy I have; | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| Dressed like a poor man now a journey I’ll make, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| And see if she on me some pity will take.’ | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Then dressed like a beggar he went to her gate, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Where stood his daughter, who looked very great; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| He cried, ‘Noble lady, a poor man I be, | 11 | ··/˘/˘····· |
| And am now forced to crave charity.’ | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| With a blush she asked him from whence that he came; | 11 | ··········· |
| And with that he told her, and likewise his name. | 11 | ·······/··· |
| She cried ‘I’m your daughter, whom you slighted so, | 11 | ····/˘··/˘· |
| Yet, nevertheless, to you kindness I’ll show. | 10 | ··˘/··/˘·· |
| ‘Through mercy the Lord hath provided for me; | 11 | ·/˘···˘/˘·· |
| Pray, father, come in and sit down then,’ said she. | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Then the best provisions the house could afford, | 11 | ···˘/˘···˘/ |
| For to make him welcome was set on the board. | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| She said, ‘You are welcome, feed hearty, I pray, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| And, if you are willing, with me you shall stay, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| So long as you live.’ Then he made this reply: | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| ‘I only am come now thy love for to try. | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| ‘Through mercy, my dear child, I’m rich and not poor, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| I have gold and silver enough now in store; | 11 | ····/˘˘/··· |
| And for this love which at thy hands I have found, | 11 | ··········· |
| For thy portion I’ll give thee ten thousand pound.’ | 11 | ··/˘····/˘· |
| So in a few days after, as I understand, | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| This man he went home, and sold off all his land, | 11 | ··········· |
| And ten thousand pounds to his daughter did give, | 11 | ··/˘···/˘·· |
| And now altogether in love they do live. | 11 | ···˘/˘····· |
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.