Riddles, R.F.C.
He was a boy of April beauty; oneWho had not tried the world; who, while the sunFlamed yet upon the eastern sky, was done.
Time would have brought him in her patient ways--So his young beauty spoke--to prosperous days,To fulness of authority and praise.
He would not wait so long. A boy, he spentHis boy’s dear life for England. Be content:No honour of age had been more excellent.
Words in this poem
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Riddles, R.F.C. 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, Riddles, R.F.C., in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/riddles-r-f-c.html, id L23118.
Form and metre
Riddles, R.F.C. is 9 lines in 3 stanzas of 3 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%).
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 AAA oneA · sunA · doneA
- 2 AAA waysA · daysA · praiseA
- 3 AAA spentA · contentA · excellentA
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.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| He was a boy of April beauty; one | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Who had not tried the world; who, while the sun | 10 | ·········· |
| Flamed yet upon the eastern sky, was done. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Time would have brought him in her patient ways-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| So his young beauty spoke--to prosperous days, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| To fulness of authority and praise. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘·· |
| He would not wait so long. A boy, he spent | 10 | ·········· |
| His boy’s dear life for England. Be content: | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| No honour of age had been more excellent. | 11 | ·/˘·····/˘˘ |
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.