Recollections
RICHARD look'd on with wond'rous glee,And prais'd the Lad who ehanc'd to win;'KATE, wan't I such a one as he?'As like him, ay, as pin to pin?
'Full Fifty years are pass'd away'Since I rode this same ground about:'Lord! I was lively as the day!'I won the High-lows out and out!
'I'm surely growing young again:'I feel myself so kedge and plump.'From head to foot I've not one pain;'Nay, hang me if I cou'd 'nt jump.'
Thus spoke the ALE in RICHARD'S pate,A very little made him mellow;But still he lov'd his faithful KATE,Who whisper'd thus, 'My good old fellow,
Words in this poem
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- rode n.
- Redness; complexion. [See Rud.]
- kedge v. i.
- To move (a vessel) by carrying out a kedge in a boat, dropping it overboard, and hauling the vessel up to it. [Cf. dial. Sw. keka to tug, to drag one's self slowly forward; or perh. fr. ked, and kedge, n., for ked anchor, named from the ked or cask fastened to the anchor]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- pate n.
- A pie. See Patty. [F. pâté.]
- kate n.
- The brambling finch.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Recollections is in the public domain. This text is taken from Rural Tales, Ballads, and Songs, Project Gutenberg ebook #9093; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Bloomfield, Recollections, in Rural Tales, Ballads and Songs (1802), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9093, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bloomfield-tales/recollections.html, id L09668.
Form and metre
Recollections is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 2 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 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 ABAB gleeA · winB · heA · pinB
- 2 ABAB awayA · aboutB · dayA · outB
- 3 ABAB againA · plumpB · painA · jumpB
- 4 ABAB pateA · mellowB · kateA · fellowB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| RICHARD look'd on with wond'rous glee, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| And prais'd the Lad who ehanc'd to win; | 9 | ········· |
| 'KATE, wan't I such a one as he? | 8 | ········ |
| 'As like him, ay, as pin to pin? | 8 | ········ |
| 'Full Fifty years are pass'd away | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| 'Since I rode this same ground about: | 8 | ········ |
| 'Lord! I was lively as the day! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'I won the High-lows out and out! | 8 | ········ |
| 'I'm surely growing young again: | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| 'I feel myself so kedge and plump. | 8 | ···/···· |
| 'From head to foot I've not one pain; | 8 | ········ |
| 'Nay, hang me if I cou'd 'nt jump.' | 8 | ········ |
| Thus spoke the ALE in RICHARD'S pate, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A very little made him mellow; | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| But still he lov'd his faithful KATE, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Who whisper'd thus, 'My good old fellow, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
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.