Laurel · Robert Browning · Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning

Boot and Saddle

rhyming couplets · 16 lines · from Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning

Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!Rescue my castle before the hot dayBrightens to blue from its silvery gray,CHORUS.--Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!

Ride past the suburbs, asleep as you'd say;Many's the friend there, will listen and pray"God's luck to gallants that strike up the lay--CHORUS.--Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!"

Forty miles off, like a roebuck at bay,Flouts Castle Brancepeth the Roundheads' array;Who laughs, "Good fellows ere this, by my fay,CHORUS.--Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!"

Who? My wife Gertrude; that, honest and gay,Laughs when you talk of surrendering, "Nay!I've better counselors; what counsel they?CHORUS.--Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!"

About this text

Boot and Saddle is in the public domain. This text is taken from Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning, Project Gutenberg ebook #28041; 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 Browning, Boot and Saddle, in Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning (1864), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #28041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/browning-selections/boot-and-saddle.html, id L25079.

Form and metre

Boot and Saddle is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets.

See other poems in rhyming couplets.

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 AAAA away^A · day^A · gray^A · away^A
2 AAAA say^A · pray^A · lay^A · away^A
3 AAAA bay^A · array^A · fay^A · away^A
4 AAAA gay^A · nay^A · they^A · away^A

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. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!	8	·/˘···˘/
Rescue my castle before the hot day	10	/˘·/˘·····
Brightens to blue from its silvery gray,	10	/˘····/˘˘·
CHORUS.--Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!	10	/˘·/˘···˘/
Ride past the suburbs, asleep as you'd say;	10	···/˘˘/···
Many's the friend there, will listen and pray	10	/˘····/˘··
"God's luck to gallants that strike up the lay--	10	···/˘·····
CHORUS.--Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!"	10	/˘·/˘···˘/
Forty miles off, like a roebuck at bay,	10	/˘····/···
Flouts Castle Brancepeth the Roundheads' array;	11	·/˘······˘/
Who laughs, "Good fellows ere this, by my fay,	10	···/˘·····
CHORUS.--Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!"	10	/˘·/˘···˘/
Who? My wife Gertrude; that, honest and gay,	10	···/˘·/˘··
Laughs when you talk of surrendering, "Nay!	10	·····˘/˘˘·
I've better counselors; what counsel they?	10	·/˘/˘˘·/˘·
CHORUS.--Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!"	10	/˘·/˘···˘/

On this poem

These three, stirring songs represent the gay, reckless loyalty of the Cavaliers to the cause of King Charles I and their contempt for his Puritan opposers. The Puritans wore closely cropped hair; hence the Parliament which came together in 1640 and was controlled by the opponents of the King, is dubbed "crop-headed." John Pym and John Hampden were leaders in the struggle against the tyranny of the King. Hazelrig, Fiennes, and young Sir Henry Vane were also adherents of Oliver Cromwell. Rupert, Prince of the Palatinate, was a nephew of Charles I and was a noted cavalry leader on the royal side during the Civil War. The followers of the King unfurled the royal standard at Nottingham in August, 1642; Kentish Sir Byng raised a troop and hurried on to join the main royal army. In September occurred the battle of Edgehill. The "Noll" (l. 16 of "Give a Rouse") is Oliver Cromwell. The third song was entitled originally "My Wife Gertrude." It was she who held the castle of Brancepeth against the Roundheads.

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