The Quartette
Tom sang for joy and Ned sang for joy and old Sam sang for joy;All we four boys piped up loud, just like one boy;And the ladies that sate with the Squire - their cheeks were all wet,For the noise of the voice of us boys, when we sang our Quartette.
Tom he piped low and Ned he piped low and old Sam he piped low;Into a sorrowful fall did our music flow;And the ladies that sate with the Squire vowed they'd never forgetHow the eyes of them cried for delight, when we sang our Quartette.
Words in this poem
- piped a.
- Formed with a pipe; having pipe or pipes; tubular.
- sate v. t.
- To satisfy the desire or appetite of; to satiate; to glut; to surfeit. [Probably shortened fr. satiate: cf. L. satus full. See Satiate.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Quartette 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 Quartette, in Peacock Pie (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3753, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-peacock-pie/the-quartette.html, id L12586.
Form and metre
The Quartette is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.8 syllables. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 joyA · boyA · wetB · quartetteB
- 2 AABB lowA · flowA · forgetB · quartetteB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Tom sang for joy and Ned sang for joy and old Sam sang for joy; | 15 | ··············· |
| All we four boys piped up loud, just like one boy; | 11 | ··········· |
| And the ladies that sate with the Squire - their cheeks were all wet, | 14 | ··/˘·········· |
| For the noise of the voice of us boys, when we sang our Quartette. | 15 | ············/˘/ |
| Tom he piped low and Ned he piped low and old Sam he piped low; | 15 | ··············· |
| Into a sorrowful fall did our music flow; | 11 | ···/˘··//˘· |
| And the ladies that sate with the Squire vowed they'd never forget | 14 | ··/˘·······/˘/ |
| How the eyes of them cried for delight, when we sang our Quartette. | 15 | ·······˘/···/˘/ |
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.