A Villager
There was no lad handsomer than Willie wasThe day that he came to father's house:There was none had an eye as soft an' blueAs Willie's was, when he came to woo.
To a labouring life though bound thee be,An' I on my father's ground live free,I'll take thee, I said, for thy manly grace,Thy gentle voice an' thy loving face.
'Tis forty years now since we were wed:We are ailing an' grey needs not to be said:But Willie's eye is as blue an' softAs the day when he wooed me in father's croft.
Yet changed am I in body an' mind,For Willie to me has ne'er been kind:Merrily drinking an' singing with the menHe 'ud come home late six nights o' the se'n.
An' since the children be grown an' goneHe 'as shunned the house an' left me lone:An' less an' less he brings me inOf the little he now has strength to win.
The roof lets through the wind an' the wet,An' master won't mend it with us in 's debt:An' all looks every day more worn,An' the best of my gowns be shabby an' torn.
No wonder if words hav' a-grown to blows;That matters not while nobody knows:For love him I shall to the end of life,An' be, as I swore, his own true wife.
An' when I am gone, he'll turn, an' seeHis folly an' wrong, an' be sorry for me:An' come to me there in the land o' blissTo give me the love I looked for in this.
Weep not to-day: why should this sadness be?Learn in present fearsTo o'ermaster those tearsThat unhindered conquer thee.
Think on thy past valour, thy future praise:Up, sad heart, nor faintIn ungracious complaint,Or a prayer for better days.
Daily thy life shortens, the grave's dark peaceDraweth surely nigh,When good-night is good-bye;For the sleeping shall not cease.
Fight, to be found fighting: nor far awayDeem, nor strange thy doom.Like this sorrow 'twill come,And the day will be to-day.
Words in this poem
- labouring a.
- That labors; performing labor; esp., performing coarse, heavy work, not requiring skill also, set apart for labor; as, laboring days.
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- shabby a.
- Torn or worn to rage; poor; mean; ragged. [See Shab, n., Scabby, and Scab.]
- nobody n.
- No person; no one; not anybody. [No, a. + body.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
- ungracious a.
- Not gracious; showing no grace or kindness; being without good will; unfeeling.
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Villager is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Robert Bridges, Excluding the Eight Dramas, Project Gutenberg ebook #37804; 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 Bridges, A Villager, in The Growth of Love, and Other Poems (1873–1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37804, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bridges-shorter-poems/a-villager.html, id L01786.
Form and metre
A Villager is 48 lines in 12 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 6 of its 12 stanzas. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 71%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.8 syllables. 27% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 --AA was · house · blueA · wooA
- 2 AABB beA · freeA · graceB · faceB
- 3 AABB wedA · saidA · softB · croftB
- 4 AABB mindA · kindA · menB · se'nB
- 5 AAAA goneA · loneA · inA · winA
- 6 AABB wetA · debtA · wornB · tornB
- 7 AABB blowsA · knowsA · lifeB · wifeB
- 8 AABB seeA · meA · blissB · thisB
- 9 ABBA beA · fearsB · tearsB · theeA
- 10 ABBA praiseA · faintB · complaintB · daysA
- 11 ABBA peaceA · nighB · byeB · ceaseA
- 12 A--A awayA · doom · come · dayA
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 trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| There was no lad handsomer than Willie was | 11 | ········/˘· |
| The day that he came to father's house: | 9 | ······/˘· |
| There was none had an eye as soft an' blue | 10 | ·········· |
| As Willie's was, when he came to woo. | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| To a labouring life though bound thee be, | 10 | ··/˘˘····· |
| An' I on my father's ground live free, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| I'll take thee, I said, for thy manly grace, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Thy gentle voice an' thy loving face. | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| 'Tis forty years now since we were wed: | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| We are ailing an' grey needs not to be said: | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| But Willie's eye is as blue an' soft | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| As the day when he wooed me in father's croft. | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Yet changed am I in body an' mind, | 10 | ··˘···/˘·· |
| For Willie to me has ne'er been kind: | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Merrily drinking an' singing with the men | 10 | /˘/˘·/˘··· |
| He 'ud come home late six nights o' the se'n. | 10 | ·········· |
| An' since the children be grown an' gone | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| He 'as shunned the house an' left me lone: | 10 | ···˘······ |
| An' less an' less he brings me in | 8 | ········ |
| Of the little he now has strength to win. | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| The roof lets through the wind an' the wet, | 9 | ········· |
| An' master won't mend it with us in 's debt: | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| An' all looks every day more worn, | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| An' the best of my gowns be shabby an' torn. | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| No wonder if words hav' a-grown to blows; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| That matters not while nobody knows: | 9 | ·/˘··/··· |
| For love him I shall to the end of life, | 10 | ·········· |
| An' be, as I swore, his own true wife. | 9 | ········· |
| An' when I am gone, he'll turn, an' see | 9 | ········· |
| His folly an' wrong, an' be sorry for me: | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| An' come to me there in the land o' bliss | 10 | ·········· |
| To give me the love I looked for in this. | 10 | ·········· |
| Weep not to-day: why should this sadness be? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Learn in present fears | 5 | ··/˘· |
| To o'ermaster those tears | 6 | ······ |
| That unhindered conquer thee. | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘· |
| Think on thy past valour, thy future praise: | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| Up, sad heart, nor faint | 5 | ····· |
| In ungracious complaint, | 6 | ·˘/˘˘/ |
| Or a prayer for better days. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Daily thy life shortens, the grave's dark peace | 10 | /˘··/˘···· |
| Draweth surely nigh, | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| When good-night is good-bye; | 6 | ······ |
| For the sleeping shall not cease. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Fight, to be found fighting: nor far away | 10 | ····/˘··˘/ |
| Deem, nor strange thy doom. | 5 | ····· |
| Like this sorrow 'twill come, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| And the day will be to-day. | 7 | ······· |
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