On the Street
There is a popular old airThat every fiddler loves to scrape.'T is wrung from organs everywhere,To barking dog with wrath agape.
The music-box has registeredIts phrases garbled and reviled.'T is classic to the household bird;Grandmother learned it as a child.
The trumpet and the clarinet,In dusty gardens of the dance,Blow it to clerk and gay grisette,In shrill, unlovely resonance.
And of a Sunday swarm the folkUnder the honeysuckle vine,Quaffing, the while they talk and smoke,The sun, the melody, the wine.
It lurks within the wry bassoonThe blind man plays, the porch beneath.His poodle whimpers low the tune,And holds the cup between its teeth.
The players of the light guitar,Decked with their flimsy tartans, pale,With voices sad, where feasters are,Through coffee-houses fling its wail.
Great Paganini at a sign,One night, as with a needle's gleam,Picked up with end of bow divineThe little antiquated theme,
And, threading it with fingers deft,He broidered it with colours bright,Till up and down the faded weftRan golden arabesques of light.
Words in this poem
- fiddler n.
- One who plays on a fiddle or violin. [AS. fi.]
- agape adv.
- Gaping, as with wonder, expectation, or eager attention. [Pref. a- + gape.]
- classic a.
- Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art. [L. classicus relating to the classes of the Roman people, and especially to the frist class; hence, of the first rank, superior, from classis class: cf. F. clas]
- clerk n.
- A clergyman or ecclesiastic. [Either OF. clerc, fr. L. clericus a priest, or AS. clerc, cleric, clerk, priest, fr. L. clericus, fr. Gr. Clergy.]
- grisette n.
- A French girl or young married woman of the lower class; more frequently, a young working woman who is fond of gallantry. Sterne. [F., fr. grisette a gray woolen cloth, fr. gris gray. Grisettes were so called because they wore gray gowns made of this stuff. See Gars.]
- unlovely a.
- Not lovely; not amiable; possessing qualities that excite dislike; disagreeable; displeasing; unpleasant.
- 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.]
- poodle n.
- A breed of dogs having curly hair, and often showing remarkable intelligence in the performance of tricks. [G. pudel.]
- deft a.
- Apt; fit; dexterous; clever; handy; spruce; neat. [OE. daft, deft, becoming, mild, gentle, stupid (cf. OE. daffe, deffe, fool, coward), AS. dæft (in derivatives only) mild, gentle, fitting, seasonable; akin to d]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Street is in the public domain. This text is taken from Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #29521, the Agnes Lee translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Théophile Gautier, On the Street, in Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29521, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/gautier-enamels-cameos/on-the-street.html, id L26989.
Form and metre
On the Street is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 ABAB airA · scrapeB · everywhereA · agapeB
- 2 ABAB registeredA · reviledB · birdA · childB
- 3 ABAB clarinetA · danceB · grisetteA · resonanceB
- 4 ABAB folkA · vineB · smokeA · wineB
- 5 ABAB bassoonA · beneathB · tuneA · teethB
- 6 ABAB guitarA · paleB · areA · wailB
- 7 ABAB signA · gleamB · divineA · themeB
- 8 ABAB deftA · brightB · weftA · lightB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There is a popular old air | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| That every fiddler loves to scrape. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| 'T is wrung from organs everywhere, | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| To barking dog with wrath agape. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The music-box has registered | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Its phrases garbled and reviled. | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| 'T is classic to the household bird; | 9 | ··/˘··/·· |
| Grandmother learned it as a child. | 8 | /·˘····· |
| The trumpet and the clarinet, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| In dusty gardens of the dance, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Blow it to clerk and gay grisette, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| In shrill, unlovely resonance. | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘˘ |
| And of a Sunday swarm the folk | 8 | ···/···· |
| Under the honeysuckle vine, | 8 | ···/˘·˘· |
| Quaffing, the while they talk and smoke, | 8 | ········ |
| The sun, the melody, the wine. | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| It lurks within the wry bassoon | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The blind man plays, the porch beneath. | 8 | ········ |
| His poodle whimpers low the tune, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And holds the cup between its teeth. | 8 | ········ |
| The players of the light guitar, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Decked with their flimsy tartans, pale, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| With voices sad, where feasters are, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Through coffee-houses fling its wail. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Great Paganini at a sign, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| One night, as with a needle's gleam, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Picked up with end of bow divine | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The little antiquated theme, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘· |
| And, threading it with fingers deft, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| He broidered it with colours bright, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Till up and down the faded weft | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Ran golden arabesques of light. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
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.