Laurel · Hilaire Belloc · Sonnets and Verse

Tarantella

Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) · 1923

iambic tetrameter · 40 lines · from Sonnets and Verse

Do you remember an Inn,Miranda?Do you remember an Inn?And the tedding and the spreadingOf the straw for a bedding,And the fleas that tease in the High Pyrenees,And the wine that tasted of the tar?And the cheers and the jeers of the young muleteers(Under the vine of the dark verandah)?Do you remember an Inn, Miranda,Do you remember an Inn?And the cheers and the jeers of the young muleteersWho hadn’t got a penny,And who weren’t paying any,And the hammer at the doors and the Din?And the Hip! Hop! Hap!Of the clapOf the hands to the twirl and the swirlOf the girl gone chancing,Glancing,Dancing,Backing and advancing,Snapping of the clapper to the spinOut and in----And the Ting, Tong, Tang of the Guitar!Do you remember an Inn,Miranda?Do you remember an Inn?

Never more;Miranda,Never more.Only the high peaks hoar:And Aragon a torrent at the door.No soundIn the walls of the Halls where fallsThe treadOf the feet of the dead to the groundNo sound:But the boomOf the far Waterfall like Doom.

Words in this poem

bedding n.: A bed and its furniture; the materials of a bed, whether for man or beast; bedclothes; litter. [AS. bedding, beding. See Bed.]
twirl v. t.: To move or turn round rapidly; to whirl round; to move and turn rapidly with the fingers. [Cf. AS. þwiril a churn staff, a stirrer, flail, þweran, aþweran, to agitate, twirl, G. zwirlen, quirlen, to twirl, to turn round or about, quirl a twirling stic]
swirl v. t.: To whirl, or cause to whirl, as in an eddy. [Akin to Norw. svirla to whirl, freq. of sverra to whirl, Dan. svirre, G. schwirren to whiz, to buzz. *177. See Swarm, n.]
glancing a.: Shooting, as light.
backing n.: The act of moving backward, or of putting or moving anything backward.
snapping: a. & n. from Snap, v. Snapping beetle. (Zoöl.) See Snap beetle, under Snap.
clapper n.: A rabbit burrow. [F. clapier.]
ting n.: A sharp sound, as of a bell; a tinkling. [An imitative word. Cf. Tink.]
hoar v. t.: To become moldy or musty. [AS. harian to grow gray.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Tarantella 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, Tarantella, in Sonnets and Verse (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/belloc-sonnets-verse/tarantella.html, id L21691.

Form and metre

Tarantella is 40 lines in 2 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.

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 ABACC-DE-BAEFFAGG-HHHHAADABA inn^A · miranda^B · inn^A · spreading^C · bedding^C · pyrenees · tar^D · muleteers^E · verandah · miranda^B · inn^A · muleteers^E · penny^F · any^F · din^A · hap^G · clap^G · swirl · chancing^H · glancing^H · dancing^H · advancing^H · spin^A · in^A · guitar^D · inn^A · miranda^B · inn^A
2 A-AAAB--BBCC more^A · miranda · more^A · hoar^A · door^A · sound^B · falls · tread · ground^B · sound^B · boom^C · doom^C

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
Do you remember an Inn,	7	··˘/˘··
Miranda?	3	˘/˘
Do you remember an Inn?	7	··˘/˘··
And the tedding and the spreading	8	··/˘··/˘
Of the straw for a bedding,	7	·····/˘
And the fleas that tease in the High Pyrenees,	10	········/˘
And the wine that tasted of the tar?	9	····/˘···
And the cheers and the jeers of the young muleteers	12	············
(Under the vine of the dark verandah)?	10	··········
Do you remember an Inn, Miranda,	10	··˘/˘··˘/˘
Do you remember an Inn?	7	··˘/˘··
And the cheers and the jeers of the young muleteers	12	············
Who hadn’t got a penny,	7	·/˘··/˘
And who weren’t paying any,	8	··/˘/˘/˘
And the hammer at the doors and the Din?	10	··/˘······
And the Hip! Hop! Hap!	5	·····
Of the clap	3	···
Of the hands to the twirl and the swirl	9	·········
Of the girl gone chancing,	6	····/˘
Glancing,	2	/˘
Dancing,	2	/˘
Backing and advancing,	6	/˘·˘/˘
Snapping of the clapper to the spin	9	/˘··/˘···
Out and in----	3	···
And the Ting, Tong, Tang of the Guitar!	9	·······˘/
Do you remember an Inn,	7	··˘/˘··
Miranda?	3	˘/˘
Do you remember an Inn?	7	··˘/˘··
Never more;	3	/˘·
Miranda,	3	˘/˘
Never more.	3	/˘·
Only the high peaks hoar:	6	/˘····
And Aragon a torrent at the door.	10	·/˘··/˘···
No sound	2	··
In the walls of the Halls where falls	8	········
The tread	2	··
Of the feet of the dead to the ground	9	·········
No sound:	2	··
But the boom	3	···
Of the far Waterfall like Doom.	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.

More by Hilaire Belloc

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