The Little Serving Maid
There was a Queen of England,And a good Queen too.She had a house in Powis LandWith the Severn running through;And Men-folk and Women-folkApprenticed to a trade;But the prettiest of allWas a Little Serving Maid.
“Oh Madam, Queen of England!Oh will you let me go!For there’s a Lad in LondonAnd he would have it so.And I would have it too, Madam,And with him would I bide;And he will be the Groom, Madam,And I shall be the Bride!”
“Oh fie to you and shame to you,You Little Serving Maid!And are you not astonied?And are you not afraid?For never was it knownSince Yngelonde beganThat a Little Serving MaidShould go a-meeting of a man!
Then the Little Serving MaidShe went and laid her down,With her cross and her bede,In her new courting gown.And she called in Mother Mary’s nameAnd heavily she sighed:“I think that I have come to shame!”And after that she died.
The good Queen of EnglandHer women came and ran:“The Little Serving Maid is deadFrom loving of a man!”Said the good Queen of England“That is ill news to hear!Take her out and shroud her,And lay her on a bier.”
They laid her on a bier,In the court-yard all;Some came from Foresting,And some came from Hall.And Great Lords carried her,And proud Priests prayed.And that was the endOf the Little Serving Maid.
Words in this poem
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
- 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,]
- astonied p. p.
- Stunned; astonished. See Astony.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- bede v. t.
- To pray; also, to offer; to proffer. R. of Gloucester. [See Bid, v. t.]
- bier n.
- A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave. [OE. bæe, beere, AS. b, b; akin to D. baar, OHG. bara, G. bahre, Icel barar, Dbaare, L. feretrum, Gr. , from the same bear to produce. See 1st Bear, and cf. Barr]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Little Serving Maid 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, The Little Serving Maid, in Sonnets and Verse (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/belloc-sonnets-verse/the-little-serving-maid.html, id L21682.
Form and metre
The Little Serving Maid is 48 lines in 6 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABAB-C-C englandA · tooB · landA · throughB · folk · tradeC · all · maidC
- 2 -A-ABCBC england · goA · london · soA · madamB · bideC · madamB · brideC
- 3 -A-A-BAB you · maidA · astonied · afraidA · known · beganB · maidA · manB
- 4 -A-ABCBC maid · downA · bede · gownA · nameB · sighedC · shameB · diedC
- 5 AB-BAC-C englandA · ranB · dead · manB · englandA · hearC · her · bierC
- 6 -A-A-B-B bier · allA · foresting · hallA · her · prayedB · end · maidB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| There was a Queen of England, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And a good Queen too. | 5 | ····· |
| She had a house in Powis Land | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With the Severn running through; | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| And Men-folk and Women-folk | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Apprenticed to a trade; | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| But the prettiest of all | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Was a Little Serving Maid. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| “Oh Madam, Queen of England! | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Oh will you let me go! | 6 | ······ |
| For there’s a Lad in London | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And he would have it so. | 6 | ······ |
| And I would have it too, Madam, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And with him would I bide; | 6 | ······ |
| And he will be the Groom, Madam, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And I shall be the Bride!” | 6 | ······ |
| “Oh fie to you and shame to you, | 8 | ········ |
| You Little Serving Maid! | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And are you not astonied? | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| And are you not afraid? | 6 | ····˘/ |
| For never was it known | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Since Yngelonde began | 6 | ····˘/ |
| That a Little Serving Maid | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Should go a-meeting of a man! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Then the Little Serving Maid | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| She went and laid her down, | 6 | ······ |
| With her cross and her bede, | 6 | ······ |
| In her new courting gown. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And she called in Mother Mary’s name | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| And heavily she sighed: | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| “I think that I have come to shame!” | 8 | ········ |
| And after that she died. | 6 | ······ |
| The good Queen of England | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Her women came and ran: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| “The Little Serving Maid is dead | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| From loving of a man!” | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Said the good Queen of England | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| “That is ill news to hear! | 6 | ······ |
| Take her out and shroud her, | 6 | ······ |
| And lay her on a bier.” | 6 | ······ |
| They laid her on a bier, | 6 | ······ |
| In the court-yard all; | 5 | ····· |
| Some came from Foresting, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| And some came from Hall. | 5 | ····· |
| And Great Lords carried her, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And proud Priests prayed. | 5 | ····˘ |
| And that was the end | 5 | ····· |
| Of the Little Serving Maid. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
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.