The Walk to the Fair
The day was up, the air serene,The Firmament without a cloud;The Bee humm'd o'er the level greenWhere knots of trembling Cowslips bow'd.
And RICHARD thus, with heart elate,As past things rush'd across his mind,Over his shoulder, talk'd to KATE,Who snug tuckt up, walk'd slow behind.
'When once a gigling Mawther you,'And I a redfac'd chubby Boy,'Sly tricks, you play'd me not a few;'For mischief was your greatest joy.
'Once, passing by this very Tree,'A Gotch [pitcher] of Milk I'd been to fill,'You shoulder'd me; then laugh'd to see'Me and my Gotch spin down the Hill'Discourse on past Days.
'Tis true,' she said; 'but here behold,'And marvel at the course of Time;'Though you and I are both grown old,'This Tree is only in its prime!'
'Well, Goody, don't stand preaching now;'Folks don't preach Sermons at a FAIR:'We've rear'd Ten Boys and Girls you know;'And I'll be bound they'll all be there.'
Now friendly nods and smiles had they,From many a kind Fair-going face:And many a pinch KATE gave away;While RICHARD kept his usual pace.
At length arriv'd amidst the throng,Grand-children bawling hem'd them round;And dragg'd them by the skirts alongWhere gingerbread bestrew'd the ground.
Words in this poem
- firmament n.
- Fixed foundation; established basis. [L. firmamentum, fr. firmare to make firm: cf. F. firmament. See Firm, v. & a.]
- elate a.
- Lifted up; raised; elevated. [L. elatus elevated, fig., elated, proud (the figure, perh., being borrowed from a prancing horse); e out + latus (used as p. p. of ferre to bear), for tlatus, a]
- kate n.
- The brambling finch.
- chubby a.
- Like a chub; plump, short, and thick.
- goody n.
- A bonbon, cake, or the like; -- usually in the pl.
- amidst prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- gingerbread n.
- A kind of plain sweet cake seasoned with ginger, and sometimes made in fanciful shapes.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Walk to the Fair 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 Walk to the Fair, in Rural Tales, Ballads and Songs (1802), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9093, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bloomfield-tales/the-walk-to-the-fair.html, id L09666.
Form and metre
The Walk to the Fair is 33 lines in 8 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 9% 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 sereneA · cloudB · greenA · bow'dB
- 2 ABAB elateA · mindB · kateA · behindB
- 3 ABAB youA · boyB · fewA · joyB
- 4 ABAB- treeA · fillB · seeA · hillB · days
- 5 ABAB beholdA · timeB · oldA · primeB
- 6 -A-A now · fairA · know · thereA
- 7 ABAB theyA · faceB · awayA · paceB
- 8 ABAB throngA · roundB · alongA · groundB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The day was up, the air serene, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The Firmament without a cloud; | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| The Bee humm'd o'er the level green | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Where knots of trembling Cowslips bow'd. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And RICHARD thus, with heart elate, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| As past things rush'd across his mind, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Over his shoulder, talk'd to KATE, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Who snug tuckt up, walk'd slow behind. | 8 | ········ |
| 'When once a gigling Mawther you, | 8 | ········ |
| 'And I a redfac'd chubby Boy, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'Sly tricks, you play'd me not a few; | 8 | ········ |
| 'For mischief was your greatest joy. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| 'Once, passing by this very Tree, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| 'A Gotch [pitcher] of Milk I'd been to fill, | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| 'You shoulder'd me; then laugh'd to see | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| 'Me and my Gotch spin down the Hill' | 8 | ········ |
| Discourse on past Days. | 5 | /˘··· |
| 'Tis true,' she said; 'but here behold, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| 'And marvel at the course of Time; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| 'Though you and I are both grown old, | 8 | ········ |
| 'This Tree is only in its prime!' | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'Well, Goody, don't stand preaching now; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| 'Folks don't preach Sermons at a FAIR: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'We've rear'd Ten Boys and Girls you know; | 8 | ········ |
| 'And I'll be bound they'll all be there.' | 8 | ········ |
| Now friendly nods and smiles had they, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| From many a kind Fair-going face: | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| And many a pinch KATE gave away; | 8 | ·/····˘/ |
| While RICHARD kept his usual pace. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| At length arriv'd amidst the throng, | 8 | ··˘/˘/·· |
| Grand-children bawling hem'd them round; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And dragg'd them by the skirts along | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Where gingerbread bestrew'd the ground. | 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.