Responsibility
You ploughmen at the gate,All that you are for meIs of my mind create,And in my brain to beA figure newly wonFrom the world’s confusion.
And if you are of grace,That’s honesty for me,And if of evil face,Recorded then shall beDishonour that I sawNot beauty, but the flaw.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- dishonour n.
- Lack of honor; disgrace; ignominy; shame; reproach. [OE. deshonour, dishonour, OF. deshonor, deshonur, F. déshonneur; pref. des- (L. dis-) + honor, honur, F. honneur, fr. L. honor. See Honor.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Responsibility 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, Responsibility, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/responsibility.html, id L23129.
Form and metre
Responsibility is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 ABABCC gateA · meB · createA · beB · wonC · confusionC
- 2 ABABCC graceA · meB · faceA · beB · sawC · flawC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| You ploughmen at the gate, | 6 | ······ |
| All that you are for me | 6 | ······ |
| Is of my mind create, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| And in my brain to be | 6 | ······ |
| A figure newly won | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| From the world’s confusion. | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| And if you are of grace, | 6 | ······ |
| That’s honesty for me, | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| And if of evil face, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Recorded then shall be | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| Dishonour that I saw | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| Not beauty, but the flaw. | 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.