General John
THE bravest names for fire and flamesAnd all that mortal durst,Were GENERAL JOHN and PRIVATE JAMES,Of the Sixty-seventy-first.
GENERAL JOHN was a soldier tried,A chief of warlike dons;A haughty stride and a withering prideWere MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN’S.
A sneer would play on his martial phiz,Superior birth to show;“Pish!” was a favourite word of his,And he often said “Ho! ho!”
FULL-PRIVATE JAMES described might be,As a man of a mournful mind;No characteristic trait had heOf any distinctive kind.
From the ranks, one day, cried PRIVATE JAMES,“Oh! MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN,I’ve doubts of our respective names,My mournful mind upon.
“A glimmering thought occurs to me(Its source I can’t unearth),But I’ve a kind of a notion weWere cruelly changed at birth.
“I’ve a strange idea that each other’s namesWe’ve each of us here got on.Such things have been,” said PRIVATE JAMES.“They have!” sneered GENERAL JOHN.
“My GENERAL JOHN, I swear uponMy oath I think ’tis so—”“Pish!” proudly sneered his GENERAL JOHN,And he also said “Ho! ho!”
“My GENERAL JOHN! my GENERAL JOHN!My GENERAL JOHN!” quoth he,“This aristocratical sneer uponYour face I blush to see!
“No truly great or generous coveDeserving of them names,Would sneer at a fixed idea that’s droveIn the mind of a PRIVATE JAMES!”
Said GENERAL JOHN, “Upon your claimsNo need your breath to waste;If this is a joke, FULL-PRIVATE JAMES,It’s a joke of doubtful taste.
“But, being a man of doubtless worth,If you feel certain quiteThat we were probably changed at birth,I’ll venture to say you’re right.”
So GENERAL JOHN as PRIVATE JAMESFell in, parade upon;And PRIVATE JAMES, by change of names,Was MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN.
Words in this poem
- haughty a.
- High; lofty; bold. [OE. hautein, F. hautain, fr. haut high, OF. also halt, fr. L. altus. See Altitude.]
- stride v. t.
- To walk with long steps, especially in a measured or pompous manner. [AS. stridan to stride, to strive; akin to LG. striden, OFries. strida to strive, D. strijden to strive, to contend, G. streiten, OHG. stritan; of uncertain orig]
- withering a.
- Tending to wither; causing to shrink or fade.
- phiz n.
- The face or visage. [Contr. fr. physiognomy.]
- pish interj.
- An exclamation of contempt.
- trait n.
- A stroke; a touch. [F., fr. L. tractus, fr. trahere to draw. See Trace, v., and cf. Tract a region, Trace a strap, Tret.]
- respective a.
- Noticing with attention; hence, careful; wary; considerate. [Cf. F. respectif, LL. respectivus. See Respect.]
- unearth v. t.
- To drive or draw from the earth; hence, to uncover; to bring out from concealment; to bring to light; to disclose; as, to unearth a secret. [1st pref. un- + earth.]
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- aristocratical a.
- Of or pertaining to an aristocracy; consisting in, or favoring, a government of nobles, or principal men; as, an aristocratic constitution. [Gr. aristocratique.]
- generous a.
- Of honorable birth or origin; highborn. [F. généreux, fr. L. generous of noble birth, noble, excellent, magnanimous, fr. genus birth, race: cf. It. generoso. See 2d Gender.]
- cove v. t.
- To brood, cover, over, or sit over, as birds their eggs. [CF. F. couver, It. covare. See Covey.]
- drove n.
- A collection of cattle driven, or cattle collected for driving; a number of animals, as oxen, sheep, or swine, driven in a body. [AS. draf, fr. drifan to drive. See Drive.]
- doubtless a.
- Free from fear or suspicion.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
General John is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Bab Ballads, Project Gutenberg ebook #931; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: W. S. Gilbert, General John, in The Bab Ballads (1869), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #931, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/gilbert-bab-ballads/general-john.html, id L02363.
Form and metre
General John is 52 lines in 13 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.6 syllables. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 flamesA · durstB · jamesA · firstB
- 2 ABAB triedA · donsB · prideA · john'sB
- 3 ABAB phizA · showB · hisA · hoB
- 4 ABAB beA · mindB · heA · kindB
- 5 ABAB jamesA · johnB · namesA · uponB
- 6 ABAB meA · unearthB · weA · birthB
- 7 ABAB namesA · onB · jamesA · johnB
- 8 ABAB uponA · soB · johnA · hoB
- 9 ABAB johnA · heB · uponA · seeB
- 10 ABAB coveA · namesB · droveA · jamesB
- 11 ABAB claimsA · wasteB · jamesA · tasteB
- 12 ABAB worthA · quiteB · birthA · rightB
- 13 ABAB jamesA · uponB · namesA · johnB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| THE bravest names for fire and flames | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| And all that mortal durst, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Were GENERAL JOHN and PRIVATE JAMES, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Of the Sixty-seventy-first. | 8 | ··/˘/˘˘· |
| GENERAL JOHN was a soldier tried, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| A chief of warlike dons; | 6 | ···/·· |
| A haughty stride and a withering pride | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Were MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN’S. | 7 | ·/˘/˘˘· |
| A sneer would play on his martial phiz, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Superior birth to show; | 7 | ˘/˘˘··· |
| “Pish!” was a favourite word of his, | 9 | ········· |
| And he often said “Ho! ho!” | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| FULL-PRIVATE JAMES described might be, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| As a man of a mournful mind; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| No characteristic trait had he | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Of any distinctive kind. | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| From the ranks, one day, cried PRIVATE JAMES, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| “Oh! MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN, | 7 | ·/˘/˘˘· |
| I’ve doubts of our respective names, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| My mournful mind upon. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| “A glimmering thought occurs to me | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| (Its source I can’t unearth), | 6 | ····˘/ |
| But I’ve a kind of a notion we | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Were cruelly changed at birth. | 7 | ·/˘·˘·· |
| “I’ve a strange idea that each other’s names | 10 | ···˘/··/˘· |
| We’ve each of us here got on. | 7 | ······· |
| Such things have been,” said PRIVATE JAMES. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| “They have!” sneered GENERAL JOHN. | 8 | ···˘/˘˘· |
| “My GENERAL JOHN, I swear upon | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| My oath I think ’tis so—” | 6 | ······ |
| “Pish!” proudly sneered his GENERAL JOHN, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And he also said “Ho! ho!” | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| “My GENERAL JOHN! my GENERAL JOHN! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| My GENERAL JOHN!” quoth he, | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| “This aristocratical sneer upon | 10 | ·········· |
| Your face I blush to see! | 6 | ······ |
| “No truly great or generous cove | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Deserving of them names, | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| Would sneer at a fixed idea that’s drove | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
| In the mind of a PRIVATE JAMES!” | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Said GENERAL JOHN, “Upon your claims | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| No need your breath to waste; | 6 | ······ |
| If this is a joke, FULL-PRIVATE JAMES, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| It’s a joke of doubtful taste. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| “But, being a man of doubtless worth, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| If you feel certain quite | 6 | ···/˘· |
| That we were probably changed at birth, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I’ll venture to say you’re right.” | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| So GENERAL JOHN as PRIVATE JAMES | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Fell in, parade upon; | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| And PRIVATE JAMES, by change of names, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Was MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN. | 7 | ·/˘/˘˘· |
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