Horace's Ode to "Lydia" Roche
No longer the boys,With their music and noise,Demand your election as mayor;Such a milk-wagon hackHas no place on the trackWhen his rival's a thoroughbred stayer.
With your coarse, shallow witEvery rational citAt last is completely disgusted;The tool of the rings,Trusts, barons, and things,What wonder, I wonder, you're busted!
As soon as that YerkesFinds out you can't work hisIntrigues for the popular nickel,With a tear to deceive youHe'll drop you and leave youIn your normal condition--a pickle.
Go, dodderer, goWhere the whisker winds blowAnd spasms of penitence trouble;Or flounder and whoopIn an ocean of soupWhere the pills of adversity bubble.
Words in this poem
- thoroughbred a.
- Bred from the best blood through a long line; pure-blooded; -- said of stock, as horses. Hence, having the characteristics of such breeding; mettlesome; courageous; of elegant form, or the like.
- stayer n.
- One who upholds or supports that which props; one who, or that which, stays, stops, or restrains; also, colloquially, a horse, man, etc., that has endurance, an a race.
- whisker n.
- One who, or that which, whisks, or moves with a quick, sweeping motion.
- adversity n.
- Opposition; contrariety. Wyclif. [OE. adversite, F. adversité, fr. L. adversitas.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Horace's Ode to "Lydia" Roche 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, Horace's Ode to "Lydia" Roche, in Hoosier Lyrics (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36150, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-poems/horace-s-ode-to-lydia-roche.html, id L11591.
Form and metre
Horace's Ode to "Lydia" Roche is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic dimeter.
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 AABCCB boysA · noiseA · mayorB · hackC · trackC · stayerB
- 2 --ABBA wit · cit · disgustedA · ringsB · thingsB · bustedA
- 3 AABCCB yerkesA · hisA · nickelB · youC · youC · pickleB
- 4 AABCCB goA · blowA · troubleB · whoopC · soupC · bubbleB
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 anapaestic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| No longer the boys, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| With their music and noise, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Demand your election as mayor; | 9 | ˘/·˘/˘·/˘ |
| Such a milk-wagon hack | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Has no place on the track | 6 | ······ |
| When his rival's a thoroughbred stayer. | 10 | ··/˘·/˘//˘ |
| With your coarse, shallow wit | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Every rational cit | 7 | /˘˘/˘˘· |
| At last is completely disgusted; | 9 | ···˘/˘˘/˘ |
| The tool of the rings, | 5 | ····· |
| Trusts, barons, and things, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| What wonder, I wonder, you're busted! | 9 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| As soon as that Yerkes | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Finds out you can't work his | 6 | ······ |
| Intrigues for the popular nickel, | 9 | ˘/··/˘˘/˘ |
| With a tear to deceive you | 7 | ····˘/· |
| He'll drop you and leave you | 6 | ······ |
| In your normal condition--a pickle. | 10 | ··/˘˘/˘·/˘ |
| Go, dodderer, go | 5 | ····· |
| Where the whisker winds blow | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| And spasms of penitence trouble; | 9 | ·/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| Or flounder and whoop | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| In an ocean of soup | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Where the pills of adversity bubble. | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
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.