Mrs. MacQueen (or the Lollie-Shop)
With glass like a bull's-eye,And shutters of green,Down on the cobblesLives Mrs. MacQueen,
At six she rises;At nine you seeHer candle shine outIn the linden tree:
And at half-past nineNot a sound is nighBut the bright moon's creepingAcross the sky;
Or a far dog baying;Or a twittering birdIn its drowsy nest,In the darkness stirred;
Or like the roarOf a distant seaA long-drawn S-s-shIn the linden tree.
Words in this poem
- twittering n.
- The act of one who, or that which, twitters.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Mrs. MacQueen (or the Lollie-Shop) is in the public domain. This text is taken from Peacock Pie, a Book of Rhymes, Project Gutenberg ebook #3753; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Walter de la Mare, Mrs. MacQueen (or the Lollie-Shop), in Peacock Pie (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3753, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-peacock-pie/mrs-macqueen-or-the-lollie-shop.html, id L18585.
Form and metre
Mrs. MacQueen (or the Lollie-Shop) is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is short measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.2 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in short measure.
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 -A-A eye · greenA · cobbles · macqueenA
- 2 -A-A rises · seeA · out · treeA
- 3 -A-A nine · nighA · creeping · skyA
- 4 -A-A baying · birdA · nest · stirredA
- 5 -A-A roar · seaA · — · treeA
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 short measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| With glass like a bull's-eye, | 6 | ······ |
| And shutters of green, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Down on the cobbles | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Lives Mrs. MacQueen, | 5 | ·/˘˘/ |
| At six she rises; | 5 | ···/˘ |
| At nine you see | 4 | ···· |
| Her candle shine out | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| In the linden tree: | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And at half-past nine | 5 | ····· |
| Not a sound is nigh | 5 | ····· |
| But the bright moon's creeping | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Across the sky; | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Or a far dog baying; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Or a twittering bird | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| In its drowsy nest, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| In the darkness stirred; | 6 | ··/˘·˘ |
| Or like the roar | 4 | ···· |
| Of a distant sea | 5 | ··/˘· |
| A long-drawn S-s-sh | 7 | ·····// |
| In the linden tree. | 5 | ··/˘· |
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.