United States of America
This is the Country of the Free,The Cocktail and the Ten Cent Chew;Where you're as good a man as me,And I'm a better man than you!(O Liberty, how free we make!Freedom, what liberties we take!)
'Tis here the startled tourist meets,'Mid clanging of a thousand bells,The railways running through the streets,Skyscraping flats and vast hotels,Where rest, on the resplendent floors,The necessary cuspidors.
And here you may encounter tooThe pauper immigrants in shoals,The Swede, the German, and the Jew,The Irishman, who rules the pollsAnd is employed to keep the peace,A venal and corrupt police.
They are so busy here, you know,They have no time at all for play;Each morning to their work they goAnd stay there all the livelong day;Their dreams of happiness dependOn making more than they can spend.
The ladies of this land are allDeveloped to a pitch sublime,Some inches over six foot tall,With perfect figures all the time.(For further notice of their looksSee Mr. Dana Gibson's books.)
And, if they happen to possessSufficient balance at the bank,They have the chance of saying 'Yes!'To needy foreigners of rank;The future dukes of all the earthAre half American by birth.
Words in this poem
- cocktail n.
- A beverage made of brandy, whisky, or gin, iced, flavored, and sweetened. [U. S.]
- tourist n.
- One who makes a tour, or performs a journey in a circuit.
- pauper n.
- A poor person; especially, one development on private or public charity. Also used adjectively; as, pouper immigrants, pouper labor. [L. See Poor.]
- swede n.
- A native or inhabitant of Sweden. [Cf. G. Schwede.]
- irishman n.
- A man born in Ireland or of the Irish race; an Hibernian.
- livelong a.
- Whole; entire; long in passing; -- used of time, as day or night, in adverbial phrases, and usually with a sense of tediousness. [For lifelong. Cf. Lifelong.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
United States of America 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, United States of America, in Verse and Worse (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36702, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/graham-verse-and-worse/united-states-of-america.html, id L23293.
Form and metre
United States of America is 36 lines in 6 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 freeA · chewB · meA · youB · makeC · takeC
- 2 ABABCC meetsA · bellsB · streetsA · hotelsB · floorsC · cuspidorsC
- 3 ABABCC tooA · shoalsB · jewA · pollsB · peaceC · policeC
- 4 ABABCC knowA · playB · goA · dayB · dependC · spendC
- 5 ABABCC allA · sublimeB · tallA · timeB · looksC · booksC
- 6 ABABCC possessA · bankB · yesA · rankB · earthC · birthC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| This is the Country of the Free, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The Cocktail and the Ten Cent Chew; | 8 | ·/······ |
| Where you're as good a man as me, | 8 | ········ |
| And I'm a better man than you! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| (O Liberty, how free we make! | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Freedom, what liberties we take!) | 8 | /˘·/˘˘·· |
| 'Tis here the startled tourist meets, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| 'Mid clanging of a thousand bells, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The railways running through the streets, | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| Skyscraping flats and vast hotels, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Where rest, on the resplendent floors, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The necessary cuspidors. | 8 | ·/˘·˘··· |
| And here you may encounter too | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The pauper immigrants in shoals, | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| The Swede, the German, and the Jew, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The Irishman, who rules the polls | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| And is employed to keep the peace, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| A venal and corrupt police. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘/ |
| They are so busy here, you know, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| They have no time at all for play; | 8 | ········ |
| Each morning to their work they go | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And stay there all the livelong day; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Their dreams of happiness depend | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| On making more than they can spend. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The ladies of this land are all | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Developed to a pitch sublime, | 8 | ˘/˘···˘/ |
| Some inches over six foot tall, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With perfect figures all the time. | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| (For further notice of their looks | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| See Mr. Dana Gibson's books.) | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And, if they happen to possess | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Sufficient balance at the bank, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| They have the chance of saying 'Yes!' | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To needy foreigners of rank; | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| The future dukes of all the earth | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Are half American by birth. | 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.