The Ship of Rio
There was a ship of RioSailed out into the blue,And nine and ninety monkeysWere all her jovial crew.From bo'sun to the cabin boy,From quarter to caboose,There weren't a stitch of calicoTo breech 'em - tight or loose;From spar to deck, from deck to keel,From barnacle to shroud,There weren't one pair of reach-me-downsTo all that jabbering crowd.But wasn't it a gladsome sight,When roared the deep sea gales,To see them reef her fore and aftA-swinging by their tails!Oh, wasn't it a gladsome sight,When glassy calm did come,To see them squatting tailor-wiseAround a keg of rum!Oh, wasn't it a gladsome sight,When in she sailed to land,To see them all a-scampering skipFor nuts across the sand!
Words in this poem
- jovial a.
- Of or pertaining to the god, or the planet, Jupiter. [F., fr. L. Jovialis pertaining to Jove. The planet Jupiter was thought to make those born under it joyful or jovial. See Jove.]
- caboose n.
- A house on deck, where the cooking is done; -- commonly called the galley. [Cf. D. kabuis, kombuis, Dan. kabys, Sw. kabysa, G. kabuse a little room or hut. The First part of the word seems to be allied to W. cab cabin, booth. Cf. Cabin.]
- gladsome a.
- Pleased; joyful; cheerful.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Ship of Rio 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 Ship of Rio, in Peacock Pie (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3753, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-peacock-pie/the-ship-of-rio.html, id L12574.
Form and metre
The Ship of Rio is 24 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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-C-CDE-EDF-FDG-G rio · blueA · monkeys · crewA · boy · cabooseB · calico · looseB · keel · shroudC · downs · crowdC · sightD · galesE · aft · tailsE · sightD · comeF · wise · rumF · sightD · landG · skip · sandG
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| There was a ship of Rio | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Sailed out into the blue, | 6 | ······ |
| And nine and ninety monkeys | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Were all her jovial crew. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| From bo'sun to the cabin boy, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| From quarter to caboose, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| There weren't a stitch of calico | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| To breech 'em - tight or loose; | 6 | ······ |
| From spar to deck, from deck to keel, | 8 | ········ |
| From barnacle to shroud, | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| There weren't one pair of reach-me-downs | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| To all that jabbering crowd. | 7 | ······· |
| But wasn't it a gladsome sight, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| When roared the deep sea gales, | 6 | ······ |
| To see them reef her fore and aft | 8 | ········ |
| A-swinging by their tails! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Oh, wasn't it a gladsome sight, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| When glassy calm did come, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| To see them squatting tailor-wise | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Around a keg of rum! | 6 | ······ |
| Oh, wasn't it a gladsome sight, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| When in she sailed to land, | 6 | ······ |
| To see them all a-scampering skip | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For nuts across the sand! | 6 | ··˘/·· |
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.