Derbyshire Song
Come loving me to Darley DaleIn spring time or sickle time,And we will make as proud a taleAs lovers in the antique primeOf Harry or Elizabeth.
With kirtle green and nodding flowersTo deck my hair and little waist,I ’ll be worth a lover’s hours....Come, fellow, thrive, there is no hasteBut soon is worn away in death.
Soon shall the blood be tame, and soonOur bodies lie in Darley Dale,Unreckoning of jolly June,With tongues past telling any tale;My man, come loving me to-day.
I have a wrist is smooth and brown,I have a shoulder smooth and white,I have my grace in any gownBy sun or moon or candle-light....Come Darley way, come Darley way.
Words in this poem
- harry v. i.
- To make a predatory incursion; to plunder or lay waste.
- kirtle n.
- A garment varying in form and use at different times, and worn doth by men and women. [OE. kirtel, curtel, AS. cyrtel; skin to Icel. kyrtill, Sw. kjortel, Dan. kiortel, kiole.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Derbyshire Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, 1908-1919, Project Gutenberg ebook #51575; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Drinkwater, Derbyshire Song, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/derbyshire-song.html, id L23071.
Form and metre
Derbyshire Song is 20 lines in 4 stanzas of 5 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 ABAB- daleA · timeB · taleA · primeB · elizabeth
- 2 ABAB- flowersA · waistB · hoursA · hasteB · death
- 3 ABAB- soonA · daleB · juneA · taleB · day
- 4 ABAB- brownA · whiteB · gownA · lightB · way
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Come loving me to Darley Dale | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| In spring time or sickle time, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And we will make as proud a tale | 8 | ········ |
| As lovers in the antique prime | 8 | ·/˘··˘/· |
| Of Harry or Elizabeth. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| With kirtle green and nodding flowers | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| To deck my hair and little waist, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I ’ll be worth a lover’s hours.... | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Come, fellow, thrive, there is no haste | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But soon is worn away in death. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Soon shall the blood be tame, and soon | 8 | ········ |
| Our bodies lie in Darley Dale, | 8 | //˘··/˘· |
| Unreckoning of jolly June, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With tongues past telling any tale; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| My man, come loving me to-day. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I have a wrist is smooth and brown, | 8 | ········ |
| I have a shoulder smooth and white, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I have my grace in any gown | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| By sun or moon or candle-light.... | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Come Darley way, come Darley way. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
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.