The Arrival.—Country Sports
And soon the aged couple spy'dTheir lusty Sons and Daughters dear:When RICHARD thus exulting cried,'Did'nt I tell you they'd be here?'
The cordial greetings of the soulWere visible in every face;Affection, void of all controul,Govern'd with a resistless grace.
'Twas good to see the honest strife,Which should contribute most to please;And hear the long-recounted life,Of infant tricks, and happy days.
But now, as at some nobler places,Amongst the Leaders 'twas decreedTime to begin the DICKY RACES;More fam'd for laughter than for speed.
Words in this poem
- exulting a.
- Rejoicing triumphantly or exceedingly; exultant.
- resistless a.
- Having no power to resist; making no opposition.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- amongst prep.
- Mixed or mingled; surrounded by. [OE. amongist, amonges, amonge, among, AS. onmang, ongemang, gemang, in a crowd or mixture. For the ending -st see Amidst. See Mingle.]
- dicky n.
- A seat behind a carriage, for a servant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Arrival.—Country Sports 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, The Arrival.—Country Sports, in Rural Tales, Ballads and Songs (1802), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9093, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bloomfield-tales/the-arrival-country-sports.html, id L09667.
Form and metre
The Arrival.—Country Sports is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% 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 -A-A spy'd · dearA · cried · hereA
- 2 ABAB soulA · faceB · controulA · graceB
- 3 A-A- strifeA · please · lifeA · days
- 4 ABAB placesA · decreedB · racesA · speedB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| And soon the aged couple spy'd | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Their lusty Sons and Daughters dear: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| When RICHARD thus exulting cried, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| 'Did'nt I tell you they'd be here?' | 7 | ······· |
| The cordial greetings of the soul | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Were visible in every face; | 9 | ·/˘˘·/˘˘· |
| Affection, void of all controul, | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Govern'd with a resistless grace. | 8 | /˘··˘/˘· |
| 'Twas good to see the honest strife, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Which should contribute most to please; | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And hear the long-recounted life, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Of infant tricks, and happy days. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| But now, as at some nobler places, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Amongst the Leaders 'twas decreed | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Time to begin the DICKY RACES; | 9 | ··˘/·/˘/˘ |
| More fam'd for laughter than for speed. | 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.