Strong Beer
"What do you thinkThe bravest drinkUnder the sky?""Strong beer," said I.
"There's a place for everything,Everything, anything,There's a place for everythingWhere it ought to be:For a chicken, the hen's wing;For poison, the bee's sting;For almond-blossom, Spring;A beerhouse for me."
"There's a prize for every oneEvery one, any one,There's a prize for every one,Whoever he may be:Crags for the mountaineer,Flags for the Fusilier,For English poets, beer!Strong beer for me!"
"Tell us, now, how and whenWe may find the bravest men?""A sure test, an easy test:Those that drink beer are the best,Brown beer strongly brewed,English drink and English food."
Oh, never choose as Gideon choseBy the cold well, but rather thoseWho look on beer when it is brown,Smack their lips and gulp it down.Leave the lads who tamely drinkWith Gideon by the water brink,But search the benches of the Plough,The Tun, the Sun, the Spotted Cow,For jolly rascal lads who pray,Pewter in hand, at close of day,"Teach me to live that I may fearThe grave as little as my beer."
Words in this poem
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
- beerhouse n.
- A house where malt liquors are sold; an alehouse.
- whoever pron.
- Whatever person; any person who; be or she who; any one who; as, he shall be punished, whoever he may be.
- mountaineer n.
- An inhabitant of a mountain; one who lives among mountains. [OF. montanier, LL. montanarius. See Mountain.]
- gulp v. t.
- To swallow eagerly, or in large draughts; to swallow up; to take down at one swallow. [D. gulpen, cf. OD. golpe gulf.]
- tamely adv.
- In a tame manner.
- brink n.
- The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge, as of a river or pit; a verge; a border; as, the brink of a chasm. Also Fig. [Dan. brink edge, verge; akin to Sw. brink declivity, hill, Icel. brekka; cf. LG. brink a grassy hill, W. bryn hill, bryncyn hillock.]
- pewter n.
- A hard, tough, but easily fusible, alloy, originally consisting of tin with a little lead, but afterwards modified by the addition of copper, antimony, or bismuth. [OE. pewtyr, OF. peutre, peautre, piautre: cf. D. peauter, piauter, It. peltro, Sp. & Pg. peltre, LL. peutreum, pestrum. Cf. Spelter.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Strong Beer is in the public domain. This text is taken from Fairies and Fusiliers, Project Gutenberg ebook #10122; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Graves, Strong Beer, in Fairies and Fusiliers (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10122, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/graves-fairies/strong-beer.html, id L02438.
Form and metre
Strong Beer is 38 lines in 5 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 74% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.5 syllables. 24% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AABB thinkA · drinkA · skyB · iB
- 2 AAABAAAB everythingA · anythingA · everythingA · beB · wingA · stingA · springA · meB
- 3 AAABC-CB oneA · oneA · oneA · beB · mountaineerC · fusilier · beerC · meB
- 4 AABBCC whenA · menA · testB · bestB · brewedC · foodC
- 5 AABBCCDDEEFF choseA · thoseA · brownB · downB · drinkC · brinkC · ploughD · cowD · prayE · dayE · fearF · beerF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "What do you think | 4 | ···· |
| The bravest drink | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Under the sky?" | 4 | ···· |
| "Strong beer," said I. | 4 | ···· |
| "There's a place for everything, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Everything, anything, | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| There's a place for everything | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Where it ought to be: | 5 | ····· |
| For a chicken, the hen's wing; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| For poison, the bee's sting; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| For almond-blossom, Spring; | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| A beerhouse for me." | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| "There's a prize for every one | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Every one, any one, | 7 | /˘˘·/˘· |
| There's a prize for every one, | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Whoever he may be: | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| Crags for the mountaineer, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Flags for the Fusilier, | 6 | ······ |
| For English poets, beer! | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Strong beer for me!" | 4 | ···· |
| "Tell us, now, how and when | 6 | ······ |
| We may find the bravest men?" | 7 | ····/˘· |
| "A sure test, an easy test: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Those that drink beer are the best, | 7 | ······· |
| Brown beer strongly brewed, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| English drink and English food." | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Oh, never choose as Gideon chose | 8 | ·/··/˘˘· |
| By the cold well, but rather those | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Who look on beer when it is brown, | 8 | ········ |
| Smack their lips and gulp it down. | 7 | ······· |
| Leave the lads who tamely drink | 7 | ····/˘· |
| With Gideon by the water brink, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| But search the benches of the Plough, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The Tun, the Sun, the Spotted Cow, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For jolly rascal lads who pray, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Pewter in hand, at close of day, | 8 | /˘······ |
| "Teach me to live that I may fear | 8 | ········ |
| The grave as little as my beer." | 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.