Ed
Ed was a man that played for keeps, 'nd when he tuk the notion,You cudn't stop him any more'n a dam 'ud stop the ocean;For when he tackled to a thing 'nd sot his mind plum to it,You bet yer boots he done that thing though it broke the bank to doit!So all us boys uz knowed him best allowed he wusn't jokin'When on a Sunday he remarked uz how he'd gin up smokin'.Now this remark, that Ed let fall, fell, ez I say, on Sunday--Which is the reason we wuz shocked to see him sail in MondayA-puffin' at a snipe that sizzled like a Chinese crackerAn' smelt fur all the world like rags instead uv like terbacker;Recoverin' from our first surprise, us fellows fell to pokin'A heap uv fun at "folks uz said how they had gin up smokin'."But Ed--sez he: "I found my work cud not be done without it--Jes' try the scheme yourself, my friends, ef any uv you doubt it!It's hard, I know, upon one's health, but there's a certain beautyIn makin' sackerfices to the stern demand uv duty!So, wholly in a sperrit uv denial 'nd concessionI mortify the flesh 'nd fur the sake uv my perfession!"
Words in this poem
- tackled a.
- Made of ropes tacked together.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- cracker n.
- One who, or that which, cracks.
- folks 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ed 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, Ed, in Hoosier Lyrics (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36150, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-poems/ed.html, id L18579.
Form and metre
Ed is 19 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 74% of the lines. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 14.2 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 26% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in iambic heptameter.
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 AAB-BCCDDEECCBBFFGG notionA · oceanA · itB · do · itB · jokinC · smokinC · sundayD · mondayD · crackerE · terbackerE · pokinC · smokinC · itB · itB · beautyF · dutyF · concessionG · perfessionG
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 heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Ed was a man that played for keeps, 'nd when he tuk the notion, | 15 | ·············/˘ |
| You cudn't stop him any more'n a dam 'ud stop the ocean; | 14 | ····/˘/˘·····/ |
| For when he tackled to a thing 'nd sot his mind plum to it, | 15 | ···/˘·········· |
| You bet yer boots he done that thing though it broke the bank to do | 15 | ··············· |
| it! | 1 | · |
| So all us boys uz knowed him best allowed he wusn't jokin' | 14 | ········˘/···· |
| When on a Sunday he remarked uz how he'd gin up smokin'. | 15 | ···/··˘/······· |
| Now this remark, that Ed let fall, fell, ez I say, on Sunday-- | 15 | ··˘/·········/· |
| Which is the reason we wuz shocked to see him sail in Monday | 15 | ···/˘········/˘ |
| A-puffin' at a snipe that sizzled like a Chinese cracker | 15 | ·/·····/˘··˘//˘ |
| An' smelt fur all the world like rags instead uv like terbacker; | 15 | ········˘/····· |
| Recoverin' from our first surprise, us fellows fell to pokin' | 16 | ·····/·˘/·/˘···· |
| A heap uv fun at "folks uz said how they had gin up smokin'." | 15 | ··············· |
| But Ed--sez he: "I found my work cud not be done without it-- | 15 | ··············· |
| Jes' try the scheme yourself, my friends, ef any uv you doubt it! | 15 | ····˘/···/˘···· |
| It's hard, I know, upon one's health, but there's a certain beauty | 15 | ···········/˘/˘ |
| In makin' sackerfices to the stern demand uv duty! | 15 | ·/˘·······˘/·/˘ |
| So, wholly in a sperrit uv denial 'nd concession | 15 | ·/˘·····˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| I mortify the flesh 'nd fur the sake uv my perfession!" | 15 | ·/˘············ |
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.