'Don't Buy a Pig in a Poke'
Unscrupulous Pigmongers willAttempt to wheedle and to coaxThe ignorant young housewife tillShe purchases her pigs in pokes;Beasts that have got a Lurid Past,Or else are far Too Good to Last.
So, should you not desire to beThe victim of a cruel hoax,Then promise me, ah! promise me,You will not purchase pigs in pokes!('Twould be an error just as bigTo poke your purchase in a pig.)
Too well I know the bitter cost,To turn this subject off with jokes;How many fortunes have been lostBy men who purchased pigs in pokes.(Ah! think on such when you would talkWith mouths that are replete with pork!)
And, after dinner, round the fire,Astride of Grandpa's rugged knee,Implore your bored but patient sireTo tell you what a Poke may be.The fact he might disclose to you--Which is far more than I can do.
The Moral of The Pigs and PokesIs not to make your choice too quick.In purchasing a Book of Jokes,Pray poke around and take your pick.Who knows how rich a mental mealThe covers of this book conceal?
Words in this poem
- unscrupulous a.
- Not scrupulous; unprincipled.
- lurid a.
- Pale yellow; ghastly pale; wan; gloomy; dismal. [L. luridus.]
- replete a.
- Filled again; completely filled; full; charged; abounding. [L. repletus, p. p. of replere to fill again, fill up; pref. re- re- + plere to fill, akin to plenus full: cf. F. replet corpulent. See Plenty, Replenish.]
- astride adv.
- With one leg on each side, as a man when on horseback; with the legs stretched wide apart; astraddle. [Pref. a- + stride.]
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
'Don't Buy a Pig in a Poke' 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, 'Don't Buy a Pig in a Poke', in Verse and Worse (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36702, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/graham-verse-and-worse/don-t-buy-a-pig-in-a-poke.html, id L23336.
Form and metre
'Don't Buy a Pig in a Poke' is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. 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 ABABCC willA · coaxB · tillA · pokesB · pastC · lastC
- 2 ABABCC beA · hoaxB · meA · pokesB · bigC · pigC
- 3 ABAB-- costA · jokesB · lostA · pokesB · talk · pork
- 4 ABABCC fireA · kneeB · sireA · beB · youC · doC
- 5 ABABCC pokesA · quickB · jokesA · pickB · mealC · concealC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Unscrupulous Pigmongers will | 8 | ˘/˘˘···· |
| Attempt to wheedle and to coax | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| The ignorant young housewife till | 8 | ·/˘˘·/·· |
| She purchases her pigs in pokes; | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Beasts that have got a Lurid Past, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or else are far Too Good to Last. | 8 | ········ |
| So, should you not desire to be | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| The victim of a cruel hoax, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Then promise me, ah! promise me, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| You will not purchase pigs in pokes! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| ('Twould be an error just as big | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To poke your purchase in a pig.) | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Too well I know the bitter cost, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To turn this subject off with jokes; | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| How many fortunes have been lost | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| By men who purchased pigs in pokes. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| (Ah! think on such when you would talk | 8 | ········ |
| With mouths that are replete with pork!) | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And, after dinner, round the fire, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Astride of Grandpa's rugged knee, | 8 | ˘/·/·/˘· |
| Implore your bored but patient sire | 9 | ˘/···/˘/˘ |
| To tell you what a Poke may be. | 8 | ········ |
| The fact he might disclose to you-- | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Which is far more than I can do. | 8 | ········ |
| The Moral of The Pigs and Pokes | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Is not to make your choice too quick. | 8 | ········ |
| In purchasing a Book of Jokes, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Pray poke around and take your pick. | 8 | ········ |
| Who knows how rich a mental meal | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The covers of this book conceal? | 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.