The Pigs and the Charcoal - Burner
The old Pig said to the little pigs,'In the forest is truffles and mast,Follow me then, all ye little pigs,Follow me fast!'
The Charcoal-burner sat in the shadeWith his chin on his thumb,And saw the big Pig and the little pigs,Chuffling come.
He watched 'neath a green and giant bough,And the pigs in the groundMade a wonderful grizzling and gruzzlingAnd a greedy sound.
And when, full-fed they were gone, and NightWalked her starry ways,He stared with his cheeks in his handsAt his sullen blaze.
Words in this poem
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Pigs and the Charcoal - Burner 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 Pigs and the Charcoal - Burner, in Peacock Pie (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3753, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-peacock-pie/the-pigs-and-the-charcoal-burner.html, id L12607.
Form and metre
The Pigs and the Charcoal - Burner is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 31% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABAB pigsA · mastB · pigsA · fastB
- 2 -A-A shade · thumbA · pigs · comeA
- 3 -A-A bough · groundA · gruzzling · soundA
- 4 -A-A night · waysA · hands · blazeA
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The old Pig said to the little pigs, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| 'In the forest is truffles and mast, | 9 | ··/˘·/˘·· |
| Follow me then, all ye little pigs, | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| Follow me fast!' | 4 | /˘·· |
| The Charcoal-burner sat in the shade | 9 | ·/·/˘···· |
| With his chin on his thumb, | 6 | ······ |
| And saw the big Pig and the little pigs, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Chuffling come. | 3 | ··· |
| He watched 'neath a green and giant bough, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And the pigs in the ground | 6 | ······ |
| Made a wonderful grizzling and gruzzling | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| And a greedy sound. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And when, full-fed they were gone, and Night | 9 | ········· |
| Walked her starry ways, | 6 | ·˘·/˘· |
| He stared with his cheeks in his hands | 8 | ········ |
| At his sullen blaze. | 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.