To a Usurper
Aha! a traitor in the camp,A rebel strangely bold,--A lisping, laughing, toddling scamp,Not more than four years old!
To think that I, who've ruled aloneSo proudly in the past,Should be ejected from my throneBy my own son at last!
He trots his treason to and fro,As only babies can,And says he'll be his mamma's beauWhen he's a "gweat, big man"!
You stingy boy! you've always hadA share in mamma's heart;Would you begrudge your poor old dadThe tiniest little part?
That mamma, I regret to see,Inclines to take your part,--As if a dual monarchyShould rule her gentle heart!
But when the years of youth have sped,The bearded man, I trow,Will quite forget he ever saidHe'd be his mamma's beau.
Renounce your treason, little son,Leave mamma's heart to me;For there will come another oneTo claim your loyalty.
And when that other comes to you,God grant her love may shineThrough all your life, as fair and trueAs mamma's does through mine!
Words in this poem
- rebel a.
- Pertaining to rebels or rebellion; acting in revolt; rebellious; as, rebel troops. [F. rebelle, fr. L. rebellis. See Rebel, v. t.]
- strangely adv.
- As something foreign, or not one's own; in a manner adapted to something foreign and strange.
- scamp n.
- A rascal; a swindler; a rogue. De Quincey. [OF. escamper to run away, to make one's escape. originally, one who runs away, a fugitive, a vagabond. See Scamper.]
- begrudge v. t.
- To grudge; to envy the possession of.
- dual a.
- Expressing, or consisting of, the number two; belonging to two; as, the dual number of nouns, etc. , in Greek. [L. dualis, fr. duo two. See Two.]
- trow v. i.
- To believe; to trust; to think or suppose. [OE. trowen, AS.treówan to trust, believe, fr. treów trust, treówe true, faithful. See True.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To a Usurper is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Little Book of Western Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #9606; 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, To a Usurper, in A Little Book of Western Verse (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9606, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-western-verse/to-a-usurper.html, id L24645.
Form and metre
To a Usurper is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 ABAB campA · boldB · scampA · oldB
- 2 ABAB aloneA · pastB · throneA · lastB
- 3 ABAB froA · canB · beauA · manB
- 4 ABAB hadA · heartB · dadA · partB
- 5 -A-A see · partA · monarchy · heartA
- 6 ABAB spedA · trowB · saidA · beauB
- 7 A-A- sonA · me · oneA · loyalty
- 8 ABAB youA · shineB · trueA · mineB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Aha! a traitor in the camp, | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| A rebel strangely bold,-- | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| A lisping, laughing, toddling scamp, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Not more than four years old! | 6 | ······ |
| To think that I, who've ruled alone | 8 | ······˘/ |
| So proudly in the past, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Should be ejected from my throne | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| By my own son at last! | 6 | ······ |
| He trots his treason to and fro, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As only babies can, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And says he'll be his mamma's beau | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When he's a "gweat, big man"! | 6 | ······ |
| You stingy boy! you've always had | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| A share in mamma's heart; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Would you begrudge your poor old dad | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| The tiniest little part? | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| That mamma, I regret to see, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Inclines to take your part,-- | 6 | ˘/···· |
| As if a dual monarchy | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Should rule her gentle heart! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But when the years of youth have sped, | 8 | ········ |
| The bearded man, I trow, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Will quite forget he ever said | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| He'd be his mamma's beau. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Renounce your treason, little son, | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Leave mamma's heart to me; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| For there will come another one | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| To claim your loyalty. | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| And when that other comes to you, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| God grant her love may shine | 6 | ······ |
| Through all your life, as fair and true | 8 | ········ |
| As mamma's does through mine! | 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.