Doctors
'Tis quite the thing to say and singGross libels on the doctor--To picture him an ogre grimOr humbug-pill concocter;Yet it's in quite another lightMy friendly pen would show him--Glad that it might with verse repaySome part of what I owe him!
When one's all right he's prone to spiteThe doctor's peaceful mission;But, when he's sick, it's loud and quickHe bawls for a physician!With other things the doctor bringsSweet babes our hearts to soften;Though I have four, I pine for more--Good doctor, pray, come often!
What though he sees death and diseaseRun riot all around him,Patient and true, and valorous, too--Such have I always found him!Where'er he goes he soothes our woes,And, when skill's unavailingAnd death is near, his words of cheerSupport our courage failing.
In ancient days they used to praiseThe godlike art of healing;An art that then engaged all menPossessed of sense and feeling;Why, Raleigh--he was glad to beFamed for a quack elixir,And Digby sold (as we are told)A charm for folk love-sick, sir!
Napoleon knew a thing or two,And clearly he was partialTo doctors, for, in time of war,He chose one for marshal,In our great cause a doctor wasThe first to pass death's portal,And Warren's name at once becameA beacon and immortal!
A heap, indeed, of what we readBy doctors is provided,For to those groves Apollo lovesTheir leaning is decided;Deny who may that RabelaisIs first in wit and learning--And yet all smile and marvel whileHis brilliant leaves they're turning.
How Lever's pen has charmed all men--How touching Rab's short story!And I will stake my all that DrakeIs still the schoolboy's glory!A doctor-man it was beganGreat Britain's great museum;The treasures there are all so rare,It drives me wild to see 'em!
There's Cuvier, Parr and Rush--they areBig monuments to learning;To Mitchell's prose (how smooth it flows!)We all are fondly turning;Tomes might be writ of that keen witWhich Abernethy's famed for--With bread-crumb pills he cured the illsMost doctors get blamed for!
In modern times the noble rhymesOf Holmes (a great physician!)Have solace brought and wisdom taughtTo hearts of all conditions.The sailor bound for Puget soundFinds pleasure still unfailing,If he but troll the barcaroleOld Osborne wrote on Whaling!
If there were need I could proceedAd naus, with this prescription,But, inter nos, a larger doseMight give you fits conniption;Yet, ere I end, there's one dear friendI'd hold before these others,For he and I in years gone by,Have chummed around like brothers.
Together we have sung in gleeThe songs old Horace made forOur genial craft--together quaffedWhat bowls that doctor paid for!I love the rest, but love him best,And, were not times so pressing,I'd buy and send--you smile, old friend?Well, then, here goes my blessing.
Words in this poem
- concocter n.
- One who concocts.
- valorous a.
- Possessing or exhibiting valor; brave; courageous; valiant; intrepid. [Cf. F. valeureux, LL. valorosus.]
- elixir n.
- A tincture with more than one base; a compound tincture or medicine, composed of various substances, held in solution by alcohol in some form. [F. élixir, Sp. elixir, Ar. eliksir the philosopher's stone, prob. from Gr. ksha to burn.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- napoleon n.
- A French gold coin of twenty francs, or about $3.86. [From the Emperor Napoleon 1.]
- drake n.
- The male of the duck kind. [Akin to LG. drake, OHG. antrache, anetrecho, G. enterich, Icel. andriki, Dan. andrik, OSw. andrak, andrage, masc., and fr. AS. ened, fem., duck; akin to D. eend]
- fondly adv.
- Foolishly. Verstegan (1673).
- solace n.
- Comfort in grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety; also, that which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; relief. [OF. solas, ssoulaz, L. solacium, solatium, fr. solari to comfort, console. Cf. Console, v. t.]
- troll n.
- A supernatural being, often represented as of diminutive size, but sometimes as a giant, and fabled to inhabit caves, hills, and like places; a witch. Troll flower. (Bot.) Same as Globeflower (a). [Icel. troll. Cf. Droll, Trull.]
- wrote v. i.
- To root with the snout. See 1st Root. [OE. wroten. See 1st Root.]
- whaling n.
- The hunting of whales.
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- genial a.
- Contributing to, or concerned in, propagation or production; generative; procreative; productive. [L. genialis: cf. OF. genial. See Genius.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Doctors is in the public domain. This text is taken from Hoosier Lyrics, Project Gutenberg ebook #36150; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eugene Field, Doctors, in Hoosier Lyrics (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36150, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-poems/doctors.html, id L11651.
Form and metre
Doctors is 88 lines in 11 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.6 syllables. 34 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 40% 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 -ABA-B-B sing · doctorA · grimB · concocterA · light · himB · repay · himB
- 2 -A-A-B-B spite · missionA · quick · physicianA · brings · softenB · more · oftenB
- 3 -A-A-B-B disease · himA · too · himA · woes · unavailingB · cheer · failingB
- 4 -A-A---- praise · healingA · men · feelingA · be · elixir · told · sir
- 5 -A-A-B-B two · partialA · war · marshalA · was · portalB · became · immortalB
- 6 AA-A-B-B readA · providedA · loves · decidedA · rabelais · learningB · while · turningB
- 7 -A-A-B-B men · storyA · drake · gloryA · began · museumB · rare · emB
- 8 AB-B-A-A areA · learningB · flows · turningB · wit · forA · ills · forA
- 9 -----A-A rhymes · physician · taught · conditions · sound · unfailingA · barcarole · whalingA
- 10 -A-A-B-B proceed · prescriptionA · dose · conniptionA · friend · othersB · by · brothersB
- 11 -A-A-B-B glee · forA · quaffed · forA · best · pressingB · friend · blessingB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 'Tis quite the thing to say and sing | 8 | ········ |
| Gross libels on the doctor-- | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| To picture him an ogre grim | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Or humbug-pill concocter; | 7 | ·/··˘/˘ |
| Yet it's in quite another light | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| My friendly pen would show him-- | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Glad that it might with verse repay | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Some part of what I owe him! | 7 | ······· |
| When one's all right he's prone to spite | 8 | ········ |
| The doctor's peaceful mission; | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| But, when he's sick, it's loud and quick | 8 | ········ |
| He bawls for a physician! | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| With other things the doctor brings | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Sweet babes our hearts to soften; | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Though I have four, I pine for more-- | 8 | ········ |
| Good doctor, pray, come often! | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| What though he sees death and disease | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Run riot all around him, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Patient and true, and valorous, too-- | 9 | /˘···/˘˘· |
| Such have I always found him! | 7 | ···/··· |
| Where'er he goes he soothes our woes, | 9 | ˘˘/····/· |
| And, when skill's unavailing | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| And death is near, his words of cheer | 8 | ········ |
| Support our courage failing. | 8 | ˘//˘/˘/˘ |
| In ancient days they used to praise | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The godlike art of healing; | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| An art that then engaged all men | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Possessed of sense and feeling; | 8 | ˘/˘···/˘ |
| Why, Raleigh--he was glad to be | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Famed for a quack elixir, | 8 | ·˘···˘/˘ |
| And Digby sold (as we are told) | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A charm for folk love-sick, sir! | 7 | ······· |
| Napoleon knew a thing or two, | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| And clearly he was partial | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| To doctors, for, in time of war, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| He chose one for marshal, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| In our great cause a doctor was | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| The first to pass death's portal, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And Warren's name at once became | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| A beacon and immortal! | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| A heap, indeed, of what we read | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| By doctors is provided, | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| For to those groves Apollo loves | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Their leaning is decided; | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Deny who may that Rabelais | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Is first in wit and learning-- | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And yet all smile and marvel while | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| His brilliant leaves they're turning. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| How Lever's pen has charmed all men-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| How touching Rab's short story! | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| And I will stake my all that Drake | 8 | ········ |
| Is still the schoolboy's glory! | 7 | ···/·/˘ |
| A doctor-man it was began | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Great Britain's great museum; | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| The treasures there are all so rare, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| It drives me wild to see 'em! | 7 | ······· |
| There's Cuvier, Parr and Rush--they are | 8 | ········ |
| Big monuments to learning; | 7 | ·/˘˘·/˘ |
| To Mitchell's prose (how smooth it flows!) | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| We all are fondly turning; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Tomes might be writ of that keen wit | 8 | ········ |
| Which Abernethy's famed for-- | 8 | ·/˘·˘·˘· |
| With bread-crumb pills he cured the ills | 8 | ········ |
| Most doctors get blamed for! | 7 | ·/˘··˘· |
| In modern times the noble rhymes | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Of Holmes (a great physician!) | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Have solace brought and wisdom taught | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To hearts of all conditions. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| The sailor bound for Puget sound | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Finds pleasure still unfailing, | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| If he but troll the barcarole | 9 | ········· |
| Old Osborne wrote on Whaling! | 7 | ·/···/˘ |
| If there were need I could proceed | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Ad naus, with this prescription, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| But, inter nos, a larger dose | 8 | ·˘/··/˘· |
| Might give you fits conniption; | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Yet, ere I end, there's one dear friend | 8 | ········ |
| I'd hold before these others, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| For he and I in years gone by, | 8 | ········ |
| Have chummed around like brothers. | 8 | ··˘···/˘ |
| Together we have sung in glee | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| The songs old Horace made for | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Our genial craft--together quaffed | 8 | //˘·˘/˘· |
| What bowls that doctor paid for! | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| I love the rest, but love him best, | 8 | ········ |
| And, were not times so pressing, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| I'd buy and send--you smile, old friend? | 8 | ········ |
| Well, then, here goes my blessing. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
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.