"Settlers Come to See That Show a Half a Dozen Miles"
Yonder sat the cradle--a homely, home-made thing,And many a night I rocked it, providin' you would sing;And many a little squatter brought up with us to stay--And so that cradle, for many a year, was never put away.
How they kept a-comin', so cunnin' and fat and small!How they growed! 'twas a wonder how we found room for 'em all;But though the house was crowded, it empty seemed that dayWhen Jennie lay by the fire-place, there, and moaned her life away.
And right in there the preacher, with Bible and hymn-book, stood,
Words in this poem
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- homely a.
- Belonging to, or having the characteristics of, home; domestic; familiar; intimate. [From Home, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
"Settlers Come to See That Show a Half a Dozen Miles" 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, "Settlers Come to See That Show a Half a Dozen Miles", in Farm Ballads (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9500, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/carleton-farm-ballads/settlers-come-to-see-that-show-a-half-a-dozen-miles.html, id L23270.
Form and metre
"Settlers Come to See That Show a Half a Dozen Miles" is 9 lines in 3 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%).
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 thingA · singA · stayB · awayB
- 2 AABB smallA · allA · dayB · awayB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Yonder sat the cradle--a homely, home-made thing, | 12 | /˘··/˘·/˘··· |
| And many a night I rocked it, providin' you would sing; | 14 | ·/˘··········· |
| And many a little squatter brought up with us to stay-- | 14 | ·/˘·/˘/˘······ |
| And so that cradle, for many a year, was never put away. | 14 | ···/˘·/···/·˘/ |
| How they kept a-comin', so cunnin' and fat and small! | 13 | ····/˘······· |
| How they growed! 'twas a wonder how we found room for 'em all; | 14 | ·····/˘······· |
| But though the house was crowded, it empty seemed that day | 14 | ·····/˘·/˘·˘·· |
| When Jennie lay by the fire-place, there, and moaned her life away. | 15 | ·/˘···/······˘/ |
| And right in there the preacher, with Bible and hymn-book, stood, | 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.