Abroad
Abroad is where we tourists spend,In divers unalluring ways,The brief occasional week-end,Or annual Easter holidays;And earn the (not ill-founded) chargeOf being lunatics at large.
Abroad, we lose our self-respect;Wear whiskers; let our teeth protrude;Consider any garb correct,And no display of temper rude;Descending, when we cross the foam,To depths we dare not plumb at home.
(Small wonder that the natives gaze,With hostile eyes, at foreign freaks,Who patronise their Passion-plays,In lemon-coloured chessboard breeks;An op'ra-glass about each neck,And on each head a cap of check.)
Abroad, where needy younger sons,When void the parent's treasure-chest,Take refuge from insistent duns,At urgent relatives' request;To live upon their slender wits,Or sums some maiden-aunt remits.
Abroad, whence (with a wisdom rare)Regardless of nostalgic pains,The weary New York millionaireRetires with his oil-gotten gains,And learns how deep a pleasure 'tisTo found our Public Libraries.
For ours is the primeval clan,From which all lesser lights descend;Is Crockett not our countryman?And call we not Corelli friend?Our brotherhood has bred the brainWhose offspring bear the brand of Caine.
Tho' nowadays we seldom hearMiss Proctor, who mislaid a chord,Or Tennyson, the poet peer,Who came into the garden, Mord;Tho' Burns be dead, and Keats unread,We have a prophet still in Stead.
And so we stare, with nose in air;And speak in condescending tone,Of foreigners whose climes compareSo favourably with our own;And aliens we cannot applaudWho call themselves At Home Abroad!
Words in this poem
- divers a.
- Different in kind or species; diverse. [F. divers, L. diversus turned in different directions, different, p. p. of divertere. See Divert, and cf. Diverse.]
- protrude v. t.
- To thrust forward; to drive or force along. [L. protrudere, protrusum; pro forward + trudere to thrust. See Threat.]
- garb n.
- External appearance, as expressive of the feelings or character; looks; fashion or manner, as of speech. [OF. garbe looks, countenance, grace, ornament, fr. OHG. garawi, garwi, ornament, dress. akin to E. gear. See Gear, n.]
- patronise v. t.
- To act as patron toward; to support; to countenance; to favor; to aid.
- chessboard n.
- The board used in the game of chess, having eight rows of alternate light and dark squares, eight in each row. See Checkerboard.
- insistent a.
- Standing or resting on something; as, an insistent wall. Sir H. [L. insistens, -entis, p. pr. of insistere.]
- nostalgic a.
- Of or pertaining to nostalgia; affected with nostalgia. [Cf. F. nostalgique.]
- millionaire n.
- One whose wealth is counted by millions of francs, dollars, or pounds; a very rich person; a person worth a million or more. [F. millionnaire.]
- crockett n.
- An ornament often resembling curved and bent foliage, projecting from the sloping edge of a gable, spire, etc. [OF. croquet, F. crochet, dim. of croc hook. See Crook, and cf. Crotchet.]
- nowadays adv.
- In these days; at the present time. [For now on (OE. an) days. See A-, 1.]
- unread a.
- Not read or perused; as, an unread book. Hooker.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Abroad is in the public domain. This text is taken from Verse and Worse, Project Gutenberg ebook #36702; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Harry Graham, Abroad, in Verse and Worse (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36702, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/graham-verse-and-worse/abroad.html, id L23292.
Form and metre
Abroad is 48 lines in 8 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 7 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 ABABCC spendA · waysB · endA · holidaysB · chargeC · largeC
- 2 ABABCC respectA · protrudeB · correctA · rudeB · foamC · homeC
- 3 ABABCC gazeA · freaksB · playsA · breeksB · neckC · checkC
- 4 ABAB-- sonsA · chestB · dunsA · requestB · wits · remits
- 5 ABABCC rareA · painsB · millionaireA · gainsB · tisC · librariesC
- 6 ABABCC clanA · descendB · countrymanA · friendB · brainC · caineC
- 7 ABABCC hearA · chordB · peerA · mordB · unreadC · steadC
- 8 ABABCC airA · toneB · compareA · ownB · applaudC · abroadC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Abroad is where we tourists spend, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| In divers unalluring ways, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The brief occasional week-end, | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| Or annual Easter holidays; | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And earn the (not ill-founded) charge | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of being lunatics at large. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Abroad, we lose our self-respect; | 8 | ˘/··/·˘/ |
| Wear whiskers; let our teeth protrude; | 8 | ·/˘·/·˘/ |
| Consider any garb correct, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And no display of temper rude; | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Descending, when we cross the foam, | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| To depths we dare not plumb at home. | 8 | ········ |
| (Small wonder that the natives gaze, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| With hostile eyes, at foreign freaks, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Who patronise their Passion-plays, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| In lemon-coloured chessboard breeks; | 8 | ·/˘/˘/·· |
| An op'ra-glass about each neck, | 8 | ········ |
| And on each head a cap of check.) | 8 | ········ |
| Abroad, where needy younger sons, | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| When void the parent's treasure-chest, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Take refuge from insistent duns, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| At urgent relatives' request; | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| To live upon their slender wits, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or sums some maiden-aunt remits. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Abroad, whence (with a wisdom rare) | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Regardless of nostalgic pains, | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| The weary New York millionaire | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Retires with his oil-gotten gains, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| And learns how deep a pleasure 'tis | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To found our Public Libraries. | 9 | ··/˘/˘/·˘ |
| For ours is the primeval clan, | 8 | ·/··˘/˘· |
| From which all lesser lights descend; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Is Crockett not our countryman? | 9 | ·/˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| And call we not Corelli friend? | 8 | ········ |
| Our brotherhood has bred the brain | 8 | //˘····· |
| Whose offspring bear the brand of Caine. | 8 | ·/······ |
| Tho' nowadays we seldom hear | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Miss Proctor, who mislaid a chord, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Or Tennyson, the poet peer, | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Who came into the garden, Mord; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Tho' Burns be dead, and Keats unread, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| We have a prophet still in Stead. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And so we stare, with nose in air; | 8 | ········ |
| And speak in condescending tone, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Of foreigners whose climes compare | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘/ |
| So favourably with our own; | 8 | ······/· |
| And aliens we cannot applaud | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘/ |
| Who call themselves At Home Abroad! | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
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