The Song of the Mad Prince
Who said, 'Peacock Pie?'The old King to the sparrow:Who said, 'Crops are ripe?'Rust to the harrow:Who said, 'Where sleeps she now?'Where rests she now her head,Bathed in eve's loveliness'? ---That's what I said.
Who said, 'Ay, mum's the word'?Sexton to willow:Who said, 'Green duck for dreams,Moss for a pillow'?
Who said, 'All Time's delightHath she for narrow bed;Life's troubled bubble broken'? ---That's what I said.
About this text
The Song of the Mad Prince 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 Song of the Mad Prince, in Peacock Pie (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3753, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-peacock-pie/the-song-of-the-mad-prince.html, id L12635.
Form and metre
The Song of the Mad Prince is 16 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.6 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 pie · sparrow · ripe · harrow · now · headA · loveliness · saidA
- 3 -A-A delight · bedA · broken · saidA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Who said, 'Peacock Pie?' | 5 | ··/·· |
| The old King to the sparrow: | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Who said, 'Crops are ripe?' | 5 | ····· |
| Rust to the harrow: | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Who said, 'Where sleeps she now?' | 6 | ······ |
| Where rests she now her head, | 6 | ······ |
| Bathed in eve's loveliness'? --- | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| That's what I said. | 4 | ···· |
| Who said, 'Ay, mum's the word'? | 6 | ······ |
| Sexton to willow: | 5 | /˘·/· |
| Who said, 'Green duck for dreams, | 6 | ······ |
| Moss for a pillow'? | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Who said, 'All Time's delight | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Hath she for narrow bed; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Life's troubled bubble broken'? --- | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| That's what I said. | 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.