The Young Stranger
Drove in a wretched Girl; who weeping stood,Whilst the cold rain dripp'd from her in a flood.With kind officiousness the tender DameRous'd up the dying embers to a flame;Dry cloaths procur'd, and cheer'd her shiv'ring guest,And sooth'd the sorrows of her infant breast.But as she stript her shoulders, lily-white,What marks of cruel usage shock'd their sight!Weals, and blue wounds, most piteous to beholdUpon a Child yet scarcely Ten years old.The Miller felt his indignation rise,Yet, as the weary stranger clos'd her eyes,And seem'd fatigu'd beyond her strength and years,'Sleep, Child,' he said, 'and wipe away your tears.'They watch'd her slumbers till the storm was done;When thus the generous Man again begun:'See, fluttering sighs that rise against her will,And agitating dreams disturb her still!
Words in this poem
- drove n.
- A collection of cattle driven, or cattle collected for driving; a number of animals, as oxen, sheep, or swine, driven in a body. [AS. draf, fr. drifan to drive. See Drive.]
- 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]
- generous a.
- Of honorable birth or origin; highborn. [F. généreux, fr. L. generous of noble birth, noble, excellent, magnanimous, fr. genus birth, race: cf. It. generoso. See 2d Gender.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Young Stranger 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 Young Stranger, in Rural Tales, Ballads and Songs (1802), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9093, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bloomfield-tales/the-young-stranger.html, id L09686.
Form and metre
The Young Stranger is 18 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 11% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII stoodA · floodA · dameB · flameB · guestC · breastC · whiteD · sightD · beholdE · oldE · riseF · eyesF · yearsG · tearsG · doneH · begunH · willI · stillI
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Drove in a wretched Girl; who weeping stood, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Whilst the cold rain dripp'd from her in a flood. | 10 | ·········· |
| With kind officiousness the tender Dame | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Rous'd up the dying embers to a flame; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Dry cloaths procur'd, and cheer'd her shiv'ring guest, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| And sooth'd the sorrows of her infant breast. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| But as she stript her shoulders, lily-white, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| What marks of cruel usage shock'd their sight! | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Weals, and blue wounds, most piteous to behold | 11 | ·····/˘˘·˘/ |
| Upon a Child yet scarcely Ten years old. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The Miller felt his indignation rise, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Yet, as the weary stranger clos'd her eyes, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And seem'd fatigu'd beyond her strength and years, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| 'Sleep, Child,' he said, 'and wipe away your tears.' | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| They watch'd her slumbers till the storm was done; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| When thus the generous Man again begun: | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘/ |
| 'See, fluttering sighs that rise against her will, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And agitating dreams disturb her still! | 10 | ·/˘·˘·˘/·· |
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.