Ballade of Hell and of Mrs Roebeck
I’m going out to dine at Gray’sWith Bertie Morden, Charles and Kit,And Manderly who never pays,And Jane who wins in spite of it,And Algernon who won’t admitThe truth about his curious hairAnd teeth that very nearly fit:--And Mrs Roebeck will be there.
And then to-morrow someone saysThat someone else has made a hitIn one of Mister Twister’s plays.And off we go to yawn at it;And when it’s petered out we quitFor number 20, Taunton Square,And smoke, and drink, and dance a bit:--And Mrs Roebeck will be there.
And so through each declining phaseOf emptied effort, jaded wit,And day by day of London daysObscurely, more obscurely, lit;Until the uncertain shadows flitAnnouncing to the shuddering airA Darkening, and the end of it:--And Mrs Roebeck will be there.
Words in this poem
- dine v. i.
- To eat the principal regular meal of the day; to take dinner. [F. dîner, OF. disner, LL. disnare, contr. fr. an assumed disjunare; dis- + an assumed junare (OF. juner) to fast, for L. jejunare, fr. jejunus fasting. See Jeju]
- jane n.
- A coin of Genoa; any small coin. [LL. Janua Genoa; L. Genua, also OE. Jean.]
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
- mister n.
- A trade, art, or occupation. [OF. mistier trade, office, ministry, need, F. métier trade, fr. L. ministerium service, office, ministry. See Ministry, Mystery trade.]
- flit a.
- Nimble; quick; swift. See Fleet.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ballade of Hell and of Mrs Roebeck is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets and Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #60663; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Hilaire Belloc, Ballade of Hell and of Mrs Roebeck, in Sonnets and Verse (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/belloc-sonnets-verse/ballade-of-hell-and-of-mrs-roebeck.html, id L21703.
Form and metre
Ballade of Hell and of Mrs Roebeck is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABBCBC, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 ABABBCBC gray'sA · kitB · paysA · itB · admitB · hairC · fitB · thereC
- 2 -A-AABAB says · hitA · plays · itA · quitA · squareB · bitA · thereB
- 3 ABABBCBC phaseA · witB · daysA · litB · flitB · airC · itB · thereC
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’m going out to dine at Gray’s | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With Bertie Morden, Charles and Kit, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And Manderly who never pays, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And Jane who wins in spite of it, | 8 | ········ |
| And Algernon who won’t admit | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘/ |
| The truth about his curious hair | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And teeth that very nearly fit:-- | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And Mrs Roebeck will be there. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And then to-morrow someone says | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| That someone else has made a hit | 8 | ·/······ |
| In one of Mister Twister’s plays. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And off we go to yawn at it; | 8 | ········ |
| And when it’s petered out we quit | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| For number 20, Taunton Square, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And smoke, and drink, and dance a bit:-- | 8 | ········ |
| And Mrs Roebeck will be there. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And so through each declining phase | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Of emptied effort, jaded wit, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And day by day of London days | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Obscurely, more obscurely, lit; | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Until the uncertain shadows flit | 9 | ···˘/˘/·· |
| Announcing to the shuddering air | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| A Darkening, and the end of it:-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And Mrs Roebeck will be there. | 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.