Then
Twenty, forty, sixty, eightyA hundred years ago,All through the night with lantern brightThe Watch trudged to and fro,And little boys tucked snug abedWould wake from dreams to hear -'Two o' the morning by the clock,And the stars a-shining clear!'Or, when across the chimney-topsScreamed shrill a North-East gale,A faint and shaken voice would shout,'Three! And a storm of hail!'
Words in this poem
- abed adv.
- In bed, or on the bed. [Pref. a- in, on + bed.]
- chimney n.
- A fireplace or hearth. Sir W. Raleigh.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Then 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, Then, in Peacock Pie (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3753, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-peacock-pie/then.html, id L12581.
Form and metre
Then is 12 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% 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-C eighty · agoA · bright · froA · abed · hearB · clock · clearB · tops · galeC · shout · hailC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Twenty, forty, sixty, eighty | 8 | /˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| A hundred years ago, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| All through the night with lantern bright | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The Watch trudged to and fro, | 6 | ······ |
| And little boys tucked snug abed | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Would wake from dreams to hear - | 6 | ······ |
| 'Two o' the morning by the clock, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And the stars a-shining clear!' | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Or, when across the chimney-tops | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Screamed shrill a North-East gale, | 6 | ······ |
| A faint and shaken voice would shout, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'Three! And a storm of hail!' | 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.