An Angler
Now as an angler melancholy standingUpon a green bank yielding room for landing,A wriggling yellow worm thrust on his hook,Now in the midst he throws, then in a nook:Here pulls his line, there throws it in again,Mendeth his cork and bait, but all in vain,He long stands viewing of the curled stream;At last a hungry pike, or well-grown breamSnatch at the worm, and hasting fast away,He knowing it a fish of stubborn sway,Pulls up his rod, but soft, as having skill,Wherewith the hook fast holds the fish's gill;Then all his line he freely yieldeth him,Whilst furiously all up and down doth swimTh' insnared fish, here on the top doth scud,There underneath the banks, then in the mud,And with his frantic fits so scares the shoal,That each one takes his hide, or starting hole:By this the pike, clean wearied, underneathA willow lies.
Words in this poem
- nook n.
- A narrow place formed by an angle in bodies or between bodies; a corner; a recess; a secluded retreat. [OE. nok; cf. Gael. & Ir. niuc.]
- wherewith adv.
- With which; -- used relatively.
- scud v. i.
- To move swiftly; especially, to move as if driven forward by something. [Dan. skyde to shoot, shove, push, akin to skud shot, gunshot, a shoot, young bough, and to E. shoot. sq. root159. See Shoot.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
An Angler is in the public domain. This text is taken from Pastoral Poems by Nicholas Breton, Selected Poetry by George Wither, and Pastoral Poetry by William Browne (of Tavistock), Project Gutenberg ebook #22001; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Nicholas Breton, An Angler, in Pastoral Poems and Selected Poetry (1597–1604), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22001, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/breton-poems/an-angler.html, id L08860.
Form and metre
An Angler is 20 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 90% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% 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-- standingA · landingA · hookB · nookB · againC · vainC · streamD · breamD · awayE · swayE · skillF · gillF · himG · swimG · scudH · mudH · shoalI · holeI · underneath · lies
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Now as an angler melancholy standing | 11 | ···/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Upon a green bank yielding room for landing, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| A wriggling yellow worm thrust on his hook, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Now in the midst he throws, then in a nook: | 10 | ·········· |
| Here pulls his line, there throws it in again, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Mendeth his cork and bait, but all in vain, | 10 | /˘········ |
| He long stands viewing of the curled stream; | 10 | ···/˘···˘· |
| At last a hungry pike, or well-grown bream | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Snatch at the worm, and hasting fast away, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| He knowing it a fish of stubborn sway, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Pulls up his rod, but soft, as having skill, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Wherewith the hook fast holds the fish's gill; | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| Then all his line he freely yieldeth him, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Whilst furiously all up and down doth swim | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Th' insnared fish, here on the top doth scud, | 10 | ··˘······· |
| There underneath the banks, then in the mud, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| And with his frantic fits so scares the shoal, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| That each one takes his hide, or starting hole: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| By this the pike, clean wearied, underneath | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| A willow lies. | 4 | ·/·· |
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.