The Little Vagabond
Dear mother, dear mother, the Church is cold;But the Alehouse is healthy, and pleasant, and warm.Besides, I can tell where I am used well;Such usage in heaven will never do well.
But, if at the Church they would give us some ale,And a pleasant fire our souls to regale,We’d sing and we’d pray all the livelong day,Nor ever once wish from the Church to stray.
Then the Parson might preach, and drink, and sing,And we’d be as happy as birds in the spring;And modest Dame Lurch, who is always at church,Would not have bandy children, nor fasting, nor birch.
And God, like a father, rejoicing to seeHis children as pleasant and happy as He,Would have no more quarrel with the Devil or the barrel,But kiss him, and give him both drink and apparel.
Words in this poem
- regale n.
- A prerogative of royalty. Johnson. [LL. regale, pl. regalia, fr. L. regalis: cf. F. régale. See Regal.]
- livelong a.
- Whole; entire; long in passing; -- used of time, as day or night, in adverbial phrases, and usually with a sense of tediousness. [For lifelong. Cf. Lifelong.]
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- lurch v. t.
- To leave in the lurch; to cheat.
- bandy n.
- A carriage or cart used in India, esp. one drawn by bullocks. [Telugu bandi.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Little Vagabond is in the public domain. This text is taken from Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Project Gutenberg ebook #1934; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Blake, The Little Vagabond, in Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1789–1794), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1934, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/blake-songs/the-little-vagabond.html, id L02904.
Form and metre
The Little Vagabond is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 84% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic 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 --AA cold · warm · wellA · wellA
- 2 --AA ale · regale · dayA · strayA
- 3 AABB singA · springA · churchB · birchB
- 4 AABB seeA · heA · barrelB · apparelB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Dear mother, dear mother, the Church is cold; | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| But the Alehouse is healthy, and pleasant, and warm. | 12 | ··/··/˘·/˘·· |
| Besides, I can tell where I am used well; | 10 | ˘/········ |
| Such usage in heaven will never do well. | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| But, if at the Church they would give us some ale, | 11 | ··········· |
| And a pleasant fire our souls to regale, | 13 | ··/˘/˘/˘··˘/˘ |
| We’d sing and we’d pray all the livelong day, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Nor ever once wish from the Church to stray. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Then the Parson might preach, and drink, and sing, | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| And we’d be as happy as birds in the spring; | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| And modest Dame Lurch, who is always at church, | 11 | ·/˘····/··· |
| Would not have bandy children, nor fasting, nor birch. | 12 | ···/˘/˘·/˘·· |
| And God, like a father, rejoicing to see | 11 | ····/˘˘/˘·· |
| His children as pleasant and happy as He, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Would have no more quarrel with the Devil or the barrel, | 14 | ····/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| But kiss him, and give him both drink and apparel. | 12 | ·········˘/˘ |
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.