The Lost Shoe
Poor little LucyBy some mischance,Lost her shoeAs she did dance -'Twas not on the stairs,Not in the hall;Not where they satAt supper at all.She looked in the garden,But there it was not;Henhouse, or kennel,Or high dovecote.Dairy and meadow,And wild woods throughShowed not a traceOf Lucy's shoe.Bird nor bunnyNor glimmering moonBreathed a whisperOf where 'twas gone.It was cried and cried,Oyez and Oyez!In French, Dutch, Latin,And Portuguese.Ships the dark seasWent plunging through,But none brought newsOf Lucy's shoe;And still she pattersIn silk and leather,O'er snow, sand, shingle,In every weather;Spain, and Africa,Hindustan,Java, China,And lamped Japan;Plain and desert,She hops-hops through,PernambucoTo gold Peru;Mountain and forest,And river too,All the world overFor her lost shoe.
Words in this poem
- henhouse n.
- A house or shelter for fowls.
- kennel n.
- The water course of a street; a little canal or channel; a gutter; also, a puddle. Bp. Hall. [See Channel, Canal.]
- dovecote n.
- A small house or box, raised to a considerable height above the ground, and having compartments, in which domestic pigeons breed; a dove house.
- bunny n.
- A great collection of ore without any vein coming into it or going out from it.
- oyez interj.
- Hear; attend; -- a term used by criers of courts to secure silence before making a proclamation. It is repeated three times. [Anglo-F. oyez hear ye. See Oyer.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- shingle n.
- Round, water-worn, and loose gravel and pebbles, or a collection of roundish stones, such as are common on the seashore and elsewhere. [Prob. from Norw. singl, singling, coarse gravel, small round stones.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Lost Shoe 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, The Lost Shoe, in Peacock Pie (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3753, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-peacock-pie/the-lost-shoe.html, id L12588.
Form and metre
The Lost Shoe is 44 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 4.5 syllables. 15 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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-B-B--B--C-C---D--DEEFEFEG-G-H-H-I-I-I-I lucy · mischanceA · shoe · danceA · stairs · hallB · sat · allB · garden · not · kennelB · dovecote · meadow · throughC · trace · shoeC · bunny · moon · whisper · goneD · cried · oyez · latinD · portugueseE · seasE · throughF · newsE · shoeF · pattersE · leatherG · shingle · weatherG · africa · hindustanH · china · japanH · desert · throughI · pernambuco · peruI · forest · tooI · over · shoeI
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Poor little Lucy | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| By some mischance, | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Lost her shoe | 3 | ··· |
| As she did dance - | 4 | ···· |
| 'Twas not on the stairs, | 5 | ····· |
| Not in the hall; | 4 | ···· |
| Not where they sat | 4 | ···· |
| At supper at all. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| She looked in the garden, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| But there it was not; | 5 | ····· |
| Henhouse, or kennel, | 5 | /··/˘ |
| Or high dovecote. | 5 | ····· |
| Dairy and meadow, | 5 | /˘·/· |
| And wild woods through | 4 | ···· |
| Showed not a trace | 4 | ···· |
| Of Lucy's shoe. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Bird nor bunny | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Nor glimmering moon | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Breathed a whisper | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Of where 'twas gone. | 4 | ···· |
| It was cried and cried, | 5 | ····· |
| Oyez and Oyez! | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| In French, Dutch, Latin, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| And Portuguese. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Ships the dark seas | 4 | ···· |
| Went plunging through, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| But none brought news | 4 | ···· |
| Of Lucy's shoe; | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And still she patters | 5 | ···/˘ |
| In silk and leather, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| O'er snow, sand, shingle, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| In every weather; | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Spain, and Africa, | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
| Hindustan, | 3 | /˘· |
| Java, China, | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| And lamped Japan; | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Plain and desert, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| She hops-hops through, | 4 | ···· |
| Pernambuco | 4 | ···· |
| To gold Peru; | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Mountain and forest, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| And river too, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| All the world over | 4 | ···· |
| For her lost shoe. | 4 | ···· |
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.