The Clown’s Reply
JOHN TROTT was desired by two witty peersTo tell them the reason why asses had ears?‘An’t please you,’ quoth John, ‘I’m not given to letters,Nor dare I pretend to know more than my betters;Howe’er, from this time I shall ne’er see your graces,As I hope to be saved! without thinking on asses.’
Words in this poem
- trott v. i.
- To proceed by a certain gait peculiar to quadrupeds; to ride or drive at a trot. See Trot, n. [OE. trotten, OF. troter, F. trotter; probably of Teutonic origin, and akin to E. tread; cf. OHG. trott to tread. See Tread.]
- witty a.
- Possessed of wit; knowing; wise; skillful; judicious; clever; cunning. [AS. witig, wittig. See Wit, n.]
- 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.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Clown’s Reply is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith, Project Gutenberg ebook #3545; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Oliver Goldsmith, The Clown’s Reply, in Poems (1764–1774), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3545, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/goldsmith-poems/the-clown-s-reply.html, id L00448.
Form and metre
The Clown’s Reply is 6 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%). 75% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.5 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in anapaestic 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 AABB-- peersA · earsA · lettersB · bettersB · graces · asses
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| JOHN TROTT was desired by two witty peers | 10 | ···˘/··/˘· |
| To tell them the reason why asses had ears? | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| ‘An’t please you,’ quoth John, ‘I’m not given to letters, | 11 | ·······/·/˘ |
| Nor dare I pretend to know more than my betters; | 12 | ···˘/·····/˘ |
| Howe’er, from this time I shall ne’er see your graces, | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| As I hope to be saved! without thinking on asses.’ | 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.