Short Ballade and Postscript on Consols and Boers
Gigantic daughter of the West(The phrase is Tennysonian), whoFrom this unconquerable breastThe vigorous milk of Freedom drew--We gave it freely--shall the crestOf Empire in your keeping true,Shall England--I forget the rest,But Consols are at 82.
Now why should anyone invest,As even City people do(His Lordship did among the rest),When stocks--but what is that to you?And then, who ever could have guessedAbout the guns--and horses too!--Besides, they knew their business best,And Consols are at 82.
It serves no purpose to protest,It isn’t manners to hallooAbout the way the thing was messed--Or vaguely call a man a Jew.A gentleman who cannot jestRemarked that we should muddle through(The continent was much impressed),And Consols are at 82.
Words in this poem
- tennysonian a.
- Of or pertaining to Alfred (Lord) Tennyson, the English poet (1809-92); resembling, or having some of the characteristics of, his poetry, as simplicity, pictorial quality, sensuousness, etc.
- unconquerable a.
- Not conquerable; indomitable.
- 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,]
- consols n.
- The leading British funded government security. [A contraction of consolidated (annuities).]
- anyone n.
- One taken at random rather than by selection; anybody.
- jest n.
- A deed; an action; a gest. [OE. jeste, geste, deed, action, story, tale, OF. geste, LL. gesta, orig., exploits, neut. pl. from L. gestus, p. p. of gerere to bear, carry, accomplish, perfor]
- muddle v. t.
- To make turbid, or muddy, as water. [From Mud.]
- continent a.
- Serving to restrain or limit; restraining; opposing. [L. continens, -entis, prop., p. pr. of continere to hold together, to repress: cf. F. continent. See Contain.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Short Ballade and Postscript on Consols and Boers 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, Short Ballade and Postscript on Consols and Boers, in Sonnets and Verse (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/belloc-sonnets-verse/short-ballade-and-postscript-on-consols-and-boers.html, id L21695.
Form and metre
Short Ballade and Postscript on Consols and Boers is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 ABABABA- westA · whoB · breastA · drewB · crestA · trueB · restA · —
- 2 ABABABA- investA · doB · restA · youB · guessedA · tooB · bestA · —
- 3 ABABABA- protestA · hallooB · messedA · jewB · jestA · throughB · impressedA · —
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Gigantic daughter of the West | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| (The phrase is Tennysonian), who | 8 | ········ |
| From this unconquerable breast | 8 | ··˘/˘˘˘· |
| The vigorous milk of Freedom drew | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| --We gave it freely--shall the crest | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of Empire in your keeping true, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Shall England--I forget the rest, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| But Consols are at 82. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Now why should anyone invest, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| As even City people do | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| (His Lordship did among the rest), | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| When stocks--but what is that to you? | 8 | ········ |
| And then, who ever could have guessed | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| About the guns--and horses too!-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Besides, they knew their business best, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| And Consols are at 82. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| It serves no purpose to protest, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| It isn’t manners to halloo | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| About the way the thing was messed-- | 8 | ········ |
| Or vaguely call a man a Jew. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A gentleman who cannot jest | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Remarked that we should muddle through | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| (The continent was much impressed), | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘/ |
| And Consols are at 82. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
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.