For Corin To-Day
Old shepherd in your wattle cote,I think a thousand years are doneSince first you took your pipe of oatAnd piped against the risen sun,Until his burning lips of goldSucked up the drifting scarves of dewAnd bade you count your flocks from foldAnd set your hurdle stakes anew.
And then as now at noon you ’ld takeThe shadow of delightful trees,And with good hands of labour breakYour barley bread with dairy cheese,And with some lusty shepherd mateWould wind a simple argument,And bear at night beyond your gateA loaded wallet of content.
O Corin of the grizzled eye,A thousand years upon your downYou’ve seen the ploughing teams go byAbove the bells of Avon’s town;And while there’s any wind to blowThrough frozen February nights,About your lambing pens will goThe glimmer of your lanthorn lights.
Words in this poem
- wattle n.
- A twig or flexible rod; hence, a hurdle made of such rods. [AS. watel, watul, watol, hurdle, covering, wattle; cf. OE. watel a bag. Cf. Wallet.]
- cote n.
- A cottage or hut. [See 1st Cot.]
- piped a.
- Formed with a pipe; having pipe or pipes; tubular.
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
For Corin To-Day 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, For Corin To-Day, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/for-corin-to-day.html, id L23050.
Form and metre
For Corin To-Day is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 ABABCDCD coteA · doneB · oatA · sunB · goldC · dewD · foldC · anewD
- 2 ABABC-C- takeA · treesB · breakA · cheeseB · mateC · argument · gateC · content
- 3 ABABCDCD eyeA · downB · byA · townB · blowC · nightsD · goC · lightsD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Old shepherd in your wattle cote, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I think a thousand years are done | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Since first you took your pipe of oat | 8 | ········ |
| And piped against the risen sun, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Until his burning lips of gold | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Sucked up the drifting scarves of dew | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And bade you count your flocks from fold | 8 | ········ |
| And set your hurdle stakes anew. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And then as now at noon you ’ld take | 9 | ········· |
| The shadow of delightful trees, | 8 | ·/··˘/˘· |
| And with good hands of labour break | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Your barley bread with dairy cheese, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And with some lusty shepherd mate | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Would wind a simple argument, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| And bear at night beyond your gate | 8 | ········ |
| A loaded wallet of content. | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| O Corin of the grizzled eye, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A thousand years upon your down | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| You’ve seen the ploughing teams go by | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Above the bells of Avon’s town; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And while there’s any wind to blow | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Through frozen February nights, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘· |
| About your lambing pens will go | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The glimmer of your lanthorn lights. | 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.