The Grateful Patient
The doctor leaned tenderly over the bedAnd looked at the patient 's complexion,And felt of the pulse and the feverish head,Then stood for a time in reflection."A strange complication!My recommendationIs morphia by hypodermic injection."
The patient looked up with a leer in his eyeAnd winked in the doctor's direction--"Well, Doc," he remarked, "since you say I must die,I'm grateful to you for protection--I'm now in positionTo ask the commissionT' excuse me from serving as judge of election."
Words in this poem
- tenderly adv.
- In a tender manner; with tenderness; mildly; gently; softly; in a manner not to injure or give pain; with pity or affection; kindly.
- complexion n.
- The state of being complex; complexity. [F. complexion, fr. L. complexio. See Complex, a.]
- recommendation n.
- The act of recommending. [Cf. F. recommandation.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Grateful Patient 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, The Grateful Patient, in Hoosier Lyrics (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36150, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-poems/the-grateful-patient.html, id L11640.
Form and metre
The Grateful Patient is 14 lines in 2 stanzas of 7 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCCB. 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.1 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABCCB bedA · complexionB · headA · reflectionB · complicationC · recommendationC · injectionB
- 2 ABABCCB eyeA · directionB · dieA · protectionB · positionC · commissionC · electionB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The doctor leaned tenderly over the bed | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| And looked at the patient 's complexion, | 10 | ····/˘·˘/˘ |
| And felt of the pulse and the feverish head, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Then stood for a time in reflection. | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| "A strange complication! | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| My recommendation | 6 | ··˘˘/˘ |
| Is morphia by hypodermic injection." | 12 | ·/˘˘··˘/˘˘/˘ |
| The patient looked up with a leer in his eye | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| And winked in the doctor's direction-- | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
| "Well, Doc," he remarked, "since you say I must die, | 11 | ···˘/······ |
| I'm grateful to you for protection-- | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| I'm now in position | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| To ask the commission | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| T' excuse me from serving as judge of election." | 13 | ·˘/··/˘···˘/˘ |
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.