West Sussex Drinking Song
They sell good Beer at HaslemereAnd under Guildford Hill.At Little Cowfold as I’ve been toldA beggar may drink his fill:There is a good brew in Amberley too,And by the bridge also;But the swipes they take in at Washington InnIs the very best Beer I know.
With my here it goes, there it goes,All the fun’s before us:The Tipple’s Aboard and the night is young,The door’s ajar and the Barrel is sprung,I am singing the best song ever was sungAnd it has a rousing chorus.
If I were what I never can be,The master or the squire:If you gave me the hundred from here to the sea,Which is more than I desire:Then all my crops should be barley and hops,And did my harvest failI’d sell every rood of mine acres I wouldFor a belly-full of good Ale.
With my here it goes, there it goes,All the fun’s before us:The Tipple’s aboard and the night is young,The door’s ajar and the Barrel is sprung,I am singing the best song ever was sungAnd it has a rousing Chorus.
Words in this poem
- brew v. t.
- To boil or seethe; to cook. [OE. brewen, AS. breówan; akin to D. brouwen, OHG. priuwan, MHG. briuwen, br, G. brauen, Icel. brugga, Sw. brygga, Dan. brygge, and perh. to L. defrutum must boi]
- aboard adv.
- On board; into or within a ship or boat; hence, into or within a railway car. [Pref. a- on, in + board.]
- ajar adv.
- Slightly turned or opened; as, the door was standing ajar. [OE. on char ajar, on the turn; AS. cerr, cyrr, turn, akin to G. kehren to turn, and to D. akerre. See Char.]
- rood n.
- A representation in sculpture or in painting of the cross with Christ hanging on it. [AS. rr, D. roede rod, G. ruthe, rute, OHG. ruota. CF. Rod a measure.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
West Sussex Drinking Song 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, West Sussex Drinking Song, in Sonnets and Verse (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/belloc-sonnets-verse/west-sussex-drinking-song.html, id L21687.
Form and metre
West Sussex Drinking Song is 28 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%).
See other poems in anapaestic 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 -A-A---- haslemere · hillA · told · fillA · too · also · inn · know
- 2 -ABBBA goes · usA · youngB · sprungB · sungB · chorusA
- 3 A-A--B-B beA · squire · seaA · desire · hops · failB · would · aleB
- 4 -ABBBA goes · usA · youngB · sprungB · sungB · chorusA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| They sell good Beer at Haslemere | 8 | ········ |
| And under Guildford Hill. | 6 | ······ |
| At Little Cowfold as I’ve been told | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| A beggar may drink his fill: | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| There is a good brew in Amberley too, | 10 | ·········· |
| And by the bridge also; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| But the swipes they take in at Washington Inn | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Is the very best Beer I know. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| With my here it goes, there it goes, | 8 | ········ |
| All the fun’s before us: | 6 | ······ |
| The Tipple’s Aboard and the night is young, | 10 | ·/˘˘/····· |
| The door’s ajar and the Barrel is sprung, | 10 | ··˘/··/˘·· |
| I am singing the best song ever was sung | 10 | ··/˘···/·· |
| And it has a rousing chorus. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| If I were what I never can be, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| The master or the squire: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| If you gave me the hundred from here to the sea, | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| Which is more than I desire: | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Then all my crops should be barley and hops, | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| And did my harvest fail | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I’d sell every rood of mine acres I would | 11 | ··/˘···/˘·· |
| For a belly-full of good Ale. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| With my here it goes, there it goes, | 8 | ········ |
| All the fun’s before us: | 6 | ······ |
| The Tipple’s aboard and the night is young, | 10 | ·/˘˘/····· |
| The door’s ajar and the Barrel is sprung, | 10 | ··˘/··/˘·· |
| I am singing the best song ever was sung | 10 | ··/˘···/·· |
| And it has a rousing Chorus. | 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.