The Wooing
A youth went faring up and down,Alack and well-a-day.He fared him to the market town,Alack and well-a-day.And there he met a maiden fair,With hazel eyes and auburn hair;His heart went from him then and there,Alack and well-a-day.
She posies sold right merrily,Alack and well-a-day;But not a flower was fair as she,Alack and well-a-day.He bought a rose and sighed a sigh,"Ah, dearest maiden, would that IMight dare the seller too to buy!"Alack and well-a-day.
She tossed her head, the coy coquette,Alack and well-a-day."I'm not, sir, in the market yet,"Alack and well-a-day."Your love must cool upon a shelf;Tho' much I sell for gold and pelf,I 'm yet too young to sell myself,"Alack and well-a-day.
The youth was filled with sorrow sore,Alack and well-a-day.And looked he at the maid once more,Alack and well-a-day.Then loud he cried, "Fair maiden, ifToo young to sell, now as I live,You're not too young yourself to give,"Alack and well-a-day.
The little maid cast down her eyes,Alack and well-a-day.And many a flush began to rise,Alack and well-a-day."Why, since you are so bold," she said,"I doubt not you are highly bred,So take me!" and the twain were wed,Alack and well-a-day.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- alack interj.
- An exclamation expressive of sorrow. [Prob. from ah! lack! OE. lak loss, failure, misfortune. See Lack.]
- auburn a.
- Flaxen-colored. Florio. [OE. auburne blonde, OF. alborne, auborne, fr. LL. alburnus whitish, fr. L. albus white. Cf. Alburn.]
- coquette n.
- A vain, trifling woman, who endeavors to attract admiration from a desire to grafity vanity; a flirt; -- formerly sometimes applied also to men. [F., fr. coquet, coquette, coquettish, orig., cocklike, strutting like a cock, fr. coq a cock. Cf. Cock, Cocket, Cocky, Cockade.]
- pelf n.
- Money; riches; lucre; gain; -- generally conveying the idea of something ill-gotten or worthless. It has no plural. [OE. pelfir booty, OF. pelfre, akin to pelfrer to plunder, and perh. to E. pillage. Cf. Pilfer.]
- twain a.
- Two;- nearly obsolete in common discourse, but used in poetry and burlesque. [OE. twein, tweien, tweyne, AS. twegen, masc. See Two.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Wooing is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Project Gutenberg ebook #18338; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Paul Laurence Dunbar, The Wooing, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/the-wooing.html, id L00543.
Form and metre
The Wooing is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCCCB, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 5% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABCCCB downA · dayB · townA · dayB · fairC · hairC · thereC · dayB
- 2 -ABABBBA merrily · dayA · sheB · dayA · sighB · iB · buyB · dayA
- 3 ABABCCCB coquetteA · dayB · yetA · dayB · shelfC · pelfC · myselfC · dayB
- 4 ABAB-CCB soreA · dayB · moreA · dayB · if · liveC · giveC · dayB
- 5 ABABCCCB eyesA · dayB · riseA · dayB · saidC · bredC · wedC · dayB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A youth went faring up and down, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Alack and well-a-day. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| He fared him to the market town, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Alack and well-a-day. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| And there he met a maiden fair, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With hazel eyes and auburn hair; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| His heart went from him then and there, | 8 | ········ |
| Alack and well-a-day. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| She posies sold right merrily, | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Alack and well-a-day; | 6 | ˘/···· |
| But not a flower was fair as she, | 8 | ···/···· |
| Alack and well-a-day. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| He bought a rose and sighed a sigh, | 8 | ········ |
| "Ah, dearest maiden, would that I | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Might dare the seller too to buy!" | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Alack and well-a-day. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| She tossed her head, the coy coquette, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Alack and well-a-day. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| "I'm not, sir, in the market yet," | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Alack and well-a-day. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| "Your love must cool upon a shelf; | 8 | ········ |
| Tho' much I sell for gold and pelf, | 8 | ········ |
| I 'm yet too young to sell myself," | 9 | ········/ |
| Alack and well-a-day. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| The youth was filled with sorrow sore, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Alack and well-a-day. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| And looked he at the maid once more, | 8 | ········ |
| Alack and well-a-day. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Then loud he cried, "Fair maiden, if | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Too young to sell, now as I live, | 8 | ········ |
| You're not too young yourself to give," | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Alack and well-a-day. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| The little maid cast down her eyes, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Alack and well-a-day. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| And many a flush began to rise, | 8 | ·/··˘/·· |
| Alack and well-a-day. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| "Why, since you are so bold," she said, | 8 | ········ |
| "I doubt not you are highly bred, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So take me!" and the twain were wed, | 8 | ········ |
| Alack and well-a-day. | 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.