Great Britain
The British are a chilly race.The Englishman is thin and tall;He screws an eyeglass in his face,And talks with a reluctant drawl.'Good Gwacious! This is doosid slow!By Jove! Haw demmy! Don't-cher-know!'
The Englishwoman ev'rywhereA meed of admiration wins;She has a crown of silken hair,And quite the loveliest of skins.(Go forth and seek an English maid,Your trouble will be well repaid.)
Where Britain's banner is unfurledThere's room for nothing else beside,She owns one-quarter of the world,And still she is not satisfied.The Briton thinks himself, by birth,To be the lord of all the earth.
Some call his manners wanting, orHis sense of humour poor, and yetWhatever he is striving forHe as a rule contrives to get;His methods may be much to blame,But he arrives there just the same.
Words in this poem
- eyeglass n.
- A lens of glass to assist the sight. Eyeglasses are used singly or in pairs.
- drawl v. t.
- To utter in a slow, lengthened tone. [Prob. fr. draw: cf. D. dralen to linger, tarry, Icel. dralla to loiter. See Draw, and cf. Draggle.]
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- englishwoman n.
- Fem. of Englishman.
- meed v. t.
- To reward; to repay. Waytt.
- admiration n.
- Wonder; astonishment. [F., fr. L. admiratio. See Admire.]
- humour n.
- Moisture, especially, the moisture or fluid of animal bodies, as the chyle, lymph, etc.; as, the humors of the eye, etc. [OE. humour, OF. humor, umor, F. humeur, L. humor, umor, moisture, fluid, fr. humere, umere, to be moist. See Humid.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Great Britain 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, Great Britain, in Verse and Worse (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36702, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/graham-verse-and-worse/great-britain.html, id L23294.
Form and metre
Great Britain is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 raceA · tallB · faceA · drawlB · slowC · knowC
- 2 ABABCC ev'rywhereA · winsB · hairA · skinsB · maidC · repaidC
- 3 ABABCC unfurledA · besideB · worldA · satisfiedB · birthC · earthC
- 4 ABABCC orA · yetB · forA · getB · blameC · sameC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The British are a chilly race. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The Englishman is thin and tall; | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| He screws an eyeglass in his face, | 8 | ···/···· |
| And talks with a reluctant drawl. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| 'Good Gwacious! This is doosid slow! | 8 | ········ |
| By Jove! Haw demmy! Don't-cher-know!' | 8 | ········ |
| The Englishwoman ev'rywhere | 8 | ·/˘·˘··· |
| A meed of admiration wins; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| She has a crown of silken hair, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And quite the loveliest of skins. | 8 | ········ |
| (Go forth and seek an English maid, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Your trouble will be well repaid.) | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Where Britain's banner is unfurled | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| There's room for nothing else beside, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| She owns one-quarter of the world, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And still she is not satisfied. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The Briton thinks himself, by birth, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| To be the lord of all the earth. | 8 | ········ |
| Some call his manners wanting, or | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| His sense of humour poor, and yet | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Whatever he is striving for | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| He as a rule contrives to get; | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| His methods may be much to blame, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But he arrives there just the same. | 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.