Laurel · John Drinkwater · Poems, 1908-1919

Petition

John Drinkwater (1882–1937) · 1919

iambic pentameter · heroic couplets · 24 lines · from Poems, 1908-1919

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O Lord, I pray: that for each happinessMy housemate brings I may give back no lessThan all my fertile will;

That I may take from friends but as the streamCreates again the hawthorn bloom adreamAbove the river sill;

That I may see the spurge upon the wallAnd hear the nesting birds give call to call,Keeping my wonder new;

That I may have a body fit to mateWith the green fields, and stars, and streams in spate,And clean as clover-dew;

That I may have the courage to confuteAll fools with silence when they will dispute,All fools who will deride;

That I may know all strict and sinewy artAs that in man which is the counterpart,Lord, of Thy fiercest pride;

That somehow this beloved earth may wearA later grace for all the love I bear,For some song that I sing;That, when I die, this word may stand for me--He had a heart to praise, an eye to see,And beauty was his king.

Words in this poem

housemate n.
One who dwells in the same house with another. R. Browning.
spate n.
A river flood; an overflow or inundation. Burns. [Of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. speid.]
deride v. t.
To laugh at with contempt; to laugh to scorn; to turn to ridicule or make sport of; to mock; to scoff at. [L. deridere, derisum; de- + rid to laugh. See Ridicule.]
somehow adv.
In one way or another; in some way not yet known or designated; by some means; as, the thing must be done somehow; he lives somehow.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Petition 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, Petition, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/petition.html, id L23140.

Form and metre

Petition is 24 lines in 7 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).

See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.

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. 1 --A happiness · less · willA
  2. 2 BBA streamB · adreamB · sillA
  3. 3 CCD wallC · callC · newD
  4. 4 EED mateE · spateE · dewD
  5. 5 FFG confuteF · disputeF · derideG
  6. 6 HHG artH · counterpartH · prideG
  7. 7 IIJKKJ wearI · bearI · singJ · meK · seeK · kingJ
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 pentameter. How this is done.

LineSyl.Stress
O Lord, I pray: that for each happiness10·······/˘˘
My housemate brings I may give back no less10·/˘·······
Than all my fertile will;6···/˘·
That I may take from friends but as the stream10··········
Creates again the hawthorn bloom adream10˘/˘/·/····
Above the river sill;6···/˘·
That I may see the spurge upon the wall10··········
And hear the nesting birds give call to call,10···/˘·····
Keeping my wonder new;6/˘·/˘·
That I may have a body fit to mate10·····/˘···
With the green fields, and stars, and streams in spate,10··········
And clean as clover-dew;6···/˘·
That I may have the courage to confute10·····/˘···
All fools with silence when they will dispute,10···/˘···˘/
All fools who will deride;6····˘/
That I may know all strict and sinewy art10·······/˘·
As that in man which is the counterpart,10·······/˘·
Lord, of Thy fiercest pride;6···/˘·
That somehow this beloved earth may wear9·/··˘/···
A later grace for all the love I bear,10·/˘·······
For some song that I sing;6······
That, when I die, this word may stand for me--10··········
He had a heart to praise, an eye to see,10··········
And beauty was his king.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.

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