"And Intently Readin' a Newspaper, A-Holdin' It Wrong Side Up"
And when I'd done my supper I drawed the agreement out,And give it to her without a word, for she knowed what 'twas about;And then I hummed a little tune, but now and then a noteWas bu'sted by some animal that hopped up in my throat.
Then Betsey she got her specs from off the mantel-shelf,And read the article over quite softly to herself;Read it by little and little, for her eyes is gettin' old,And lawyers' writin' ain't no print, especially when it's cold.
And after she'd read a little she give my arm a touch,And kindly said she was afraid I was 'lowin' her too much;But when she was through she went for me, her face a-streamin' with tears,And kissed me for the first time in over twenty years!
Words in this poem
- hopped p. a.
- Impregnated with hops.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
"And Intently Readin' a Newspaper, A-Holdin' It Wrong Side Up" is in the public domain. This text is taken from Farm Ballads, Project Gutenberg ebook #9500; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Will Carleton, "And Intently Readin' a Newspaper, A-Holdin' It Wrong Side Up", in Farm Ballads (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9500, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/carleton-farm-ballads/and-intently-readin-a-newspaper-a-holdin-it-wrong-side-up.html, id L23258.
Form and metre
"And Intently Readin' a Newspaper, A-Holdin' It Wrong Side Up" is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%).
See other poems in iambic heptameter.
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 AABB outA · aboutA · noteB · throatB
- 2 AABB shelfA · herselfA · oldB · coldB
- 3 AABB touchA · muchA · tearsB · yearsB
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 heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| And when I'd done my supper I drawed the agreement out, | 14 | ·····/˘···˘/˘· |
| And give it to her without a word, for she knowed what 'twas about; | 16 | ················ |
| And then I hummed a little tune, but now and then a note | 14 | ·····/˘······· |
| Was bu'sted by some animal that hopped up in my throat. | 14 | ·/˘··/˘˘······ |
| Then Betsey she got her specs from off the mantel-shelf, | 13 | ·/˘·······/˘· |
| And read the article over quite softly to herself; | 14 | ···/˘˘···/˘·˘/ |
| Read it by little and little, for her eyes is gettin' old, | 15 | ···/˘·/˘····/˘· |
| And lawyers' writin' ain't no print, especially when it's cold. | 14 | ·/˘·····˘/˘··· |
| And after she'd read a little she give my arm a touch, | 14 | ······/˘······ |
| And kindly said she was afraid I was 'lowin' her too much; | 15 | ·/˘···˘/······· |
| But when she was through she went for me, her face a-streamin' with tears, | 16 | ················ |
| And kissed me for the first time in over twenty years! | 14 | ··˘········/˘· |
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.