The Homes of London
The happy homes of London,How beautiful they stand!The crowded human rookeriesThat mar this Christian land.Where cats in hordes upon the roofFor nightly music meet,And the horse, with non-adhesive hoof,Skates slowly down the street.
The merry homes of London!Around bare hearths at night,With hungry looks and sickly mien,The children wail and fight.There woman's voice is only heardIn shrill, abusive key,And men can hardly speak a wordThat is not blasphemy.
The healthy homes of London!With weekly wifely wage,The hopeless husbands, out of work,Their daily thirst assuage.The overcrowded tenementIs comfortless and bare,The atmosphere is redolentOf hunger and despair.
The blessed homes of London!By thousands, on her stones,The helpless, homeless, destitute,Do nightly rest their bones.On pavements Piccadilly way,In slumber like the dead,Their wan pathetic forms they lay,And make their humble bed.
The free, fair homes of London!From all the thinking throng,Who mourn a nation's apathy,The cry goes up, 'How long!'And those who love old England's name,Her welfare and renown,Can only contemplate with shameThe homes of London town.
Words in this poem
- nightly a.
- Of or pertaining to the night, or to every night; happening or done by night, or every night; as, nightly shades; he kept nightly vigils.
- wifely a.
- Becoming or life; of or pertaining to a wife. [AS. wiflic.]
- wage v. i.
- To bind one's self; to engage.
- comfortless a.
- Without comfort or comforts; in want or distress; cheerless.
- redolent a.
- Diffusing odor or fragrance; spreading sweet scent; scented; odorous; smelling; -- usually followed by of. [L. redolens, -entis, p. pr. of redolere to emit a scent, diffuse an odor; pref. red-, re-, re- + olere to emit a smell. See Odor.]
- homeless a.
- Destitute of a home. [AS.hamleas.]
- piccadilly n.
- A high, stiff collar for the neck; also, a hem or band about the skirt of a garment, -- worn by men in the 17th century. [OF. piccagilles the several divisions of pieces fastened together about the brim of the collar of a doublet, a dim. fr. Sp. picado, p.p. of picar to prick. See ]
- pathetic a.
- Expressing or showing anger; passionate. [L. patheticus, Gr. pathétique. See Pathos.]
- contemplate v. t.
- To look at on all sides or in all its bearings; to view or consider with continued attention; to regard with deliberate care; to meditate on; to study. [L. contemplatus, p.p. of contemplari to contemplate; con- + templum a space for observation marked out by the augur. See Temple.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Homes of London 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, The Homes of London, in Verse and Worse (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36702, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/graham-verse-and-worse/the-homes-of-london.html, id L23350.
Form and metre
The Homes of London is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 -A-ABCBC london · standA · rookeries · landA · roofB · meetC · hoofB · streetC
- 2 ABABC-C- londonA · nightB · mienA · fightB · heardC · key · wordC · blasphemy
- 3 -A-A-B-B london · wageA · work · assuageA · tenement · bareB · redolent · despairB
- 4 -A-ABCBC london · stonesA · destitute · bonesA · wayB · deadC · layB · bedC
- 5 -A-ABCBC london · throngA · apathy · longA · nameB · renownC · shameB · townC
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The happy homes of London, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| How beautiful they stand! | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| The crowded human rookeries | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| That mar this Christian land. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Where cats in hordes upon the roof | 8 | ········ |
| For nightly music meet, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And the horse, with non-adhesive hoof, | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| Skates slowly down the street. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The merry homes of London! | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Around bare hearths at night, | 6 | ······ |
| With hungry looks and sickly mien, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The children wail and fight. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| There woman's voice is only heard | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| In shrill, abusive key, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| And men can hardly speak a word | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That is not blasphemy. | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| The healthy homes of London! | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| With weekly wifely wage, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| The hopeless husbands, out of work, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Their daily thirst assuage. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| The overcrowded tenement | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Is comfortless and bare, | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| The atmosphere is redolent | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Of hunger and despair. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| The blessed homes of London! | 6 | ····/˘ |
| By thousands, on her stones, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The helpless, homeless, destitute, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Do nightly rest their bones. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| On pavements Piccadilly way, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘· |
| In slumber like the dead, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Their wan pathetic forms they lay, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And make their humble bed. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The free, fair homes of London! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| From all the thinking throng, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Who mourn a nation's apathy, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| The cry goes up, 'How long!' | 6 | ······ |
| And those who love old England's name, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Her welfare and renown, | 6 | ·/··˘/ |
| Can only contemplate with shame | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The homes of London town. | 6 | ···/˘· |
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.