The Enchanted Shirt
The King was sick. His cheek was redAnd his eye was clear and bright;He ate and drank with a kingly zest,And peacefully snored at night.
But he said he was sick, and a king should know,And doctors came by the score.They did not cure him. He cut off their headsAnd sent to the schools for more.
At last two famous doctors came,And one was as poor as a rat,--He had passed his life in studious toil,And never found time to grow fat.
The other had never looked in a book;His patients gave him no trouble--If they recovered they paid him well,If they died their heirs paid double.
Together they looked at the royal tongue,As the King on his couch reclined;In succession they thumped his august chest,But no trace of disease could find.
The old sage said, "You're as sound as a nut.""Hang him up!" roared the King in a gale,--In a ten-knot gale of royal rage;The other leech grew a shade pale;
But he pensively rubbed his sagacious nose,And thus his prescription ran,--The King will be well, if he sleeps one nightIn the Shirt of a Happy Man.
Wide o'er the realm the couriers rode,And fast their horses ran,And many they saw, and to many they spoke,But they found no Happy Man.
They found poor men who would fain be richAnd rich who thought they were poor;And men who twisted their waists in stays,And women that shorthose wore.
They saw two men by the roadside sit,And both bemoaned their lot;For one had buried his wife, he said,And the other one had not.
At last they came to a village gate,A beggar lay whistling there;He whistled and sang and laughed and rolledOn the grass in the soft June air.
The weary couriers paused and lookedAt the scamp so blithe and gay;And one of them said, "Heaven save you, friend!You seem to be happy to-day."
"O yes, fair sirs!" the rascal laughed,And his voice rang free and glad,"An idle man has so much to doThat he never has time to be sad."
"This is our man," the courier said"Our luck has led us aright.I will give you a hundred ducats, friend,For the loan of your shirt to-night."
The merry blackguard lay back on the grass,And laughed till his face was black;"I would do it, God wot," and he roared with the fun,"But I haven't a shirt to my back."
Each day to the King the reports came inOf his unsuccessful spies,And the sad panorama of human woesPassed daily under his eyes.
And he grew ashamed of his useless life,And his maladies hatched in gloom;He opened his windows and let the airOf the free heaven into his room.
And out he went in the world and toiledIn his own appointed way;And the people blessed him, the land was glad,And the King was well and gay.
Words in this poem
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
- zest n.
- A piece of orange or lemon peel, or the aromatic oil which may be squeezed from such peel, used to give flavor to liquor, etc. [F. zeste, probably fr. L. schistos split, cleft, divided, Gr. Schism.]
- reclined a.
- Falling or turned downward; reclinate.
- pensively adv.
- In a pensive manner.
- rode n.
- Redness; complexion. [See Rud.]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- roadside n.
- Land adjoining a road or highway; the part of a road or highway that borders the traveled part. Also used ajectively.
- scamp n.
- A rascal; a swindler; a rogue. De Quincey. [OF. escamper to run away, to make one's escape. originally, one who runs away, a fugitive, a vagabond. See Scamper.]
- blithe a.
- Gay; merry; sprightly; joyous; glad; cheerful; as, a blithe spirit. [AS. bli blithe, kind; akin to Goth. blei kind, Icel. bli mild, gentle, Dan. & Sw. blid gentle, D. blijd blithe, OHG. blidi kind, blithe.]
- aright adv.
- Rightly; correctly; in a right way or form; without mistake or crime; as, to worship God aright. [Pref. a- + right.]
- unsuccessful a.
- Not successful; not producing the desired event; not fortunate; meeting with, or resulting in, failure; unlucky; unhappy.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Enchanted Shirt is in the public domain. This text is taken from Pike County Ballads and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #6062; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Hay, The Enchanted Shirt, in Pike County Ballads and Other Poems (1871), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6062, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hay-pike-county/the-enchanted-shirt.html, id L21583.
Form and metre
The Enchanted Shirt is 72 lines in 18 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%).
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 -A-A red · brightA · zest · nightA
- 2 -A-A know · scoreA · heads · moreA
- 3 -A-A came · ratA · toil · fatA
- 4 -AAA book · troubleA · wellA · doubleA
- 5 -A-A tongue · reclinedA · chest · findA
- 6 -A-A nut · galeA · rage · paleA
- 7 -A-A nose · ranA · night · manA
- 8 -A-A rode · ranA · spoke · manA
- 10 -A-A sit · lotA · said · notA
- 11 -A-A gate · thereA · rolled · airA
- 12 -A-A looked · gayA · friend · dayA
- 13 -A-A laughed · gladA · do · sadA
- 14 -A-A said · arightA · friend · nightA
- 15 -A-A grass · blackA · fun · backA
- 16 -A-A in · spiesA · woes · eyesA
- 17 -A-A life · gloomA · air · roomA
- 18 -A-A toiled · wayA · glad · gayA
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 King was sick. His cheek was red | 8 | ········ |
| And his eye was clear and bright; | 7 | ······· |
| He ate and drank with a kingly zest, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And peacefully snored at night. | 8 | ·/˘˘·˘·· |
| But he said he was sick, and a king should know, | 11 | ··········· |
| And doctors came by the score. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| They did not cure him. He cut off their heads | 10 | ·········· |
| And sent to the schools for more. | 7 | ······· |
| At last two famous doctors came, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And one was as poor as a rat,-- | 8 | ········ |
| He had passed his life in studious toil, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And never found time to grow fat. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The other had never looked in a book; | 9 | ·/˘·/···· |
| His patients gave him no trouble-- | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| If they recovered they paid him well, | 9 | ··˘/˘···· |
| If they died their heirs paid double. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Together they looked at the royal tongue, | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| As the King on his couch reclined; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| In succession they thumped his august chest, | 10 | ·˘/˘···/˘· |
| But no trace of disease could find. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| The old sage said, "You're as sound as a nut." | 10 | ·········· |
| "Hang him up!" roared the King in a gale,-- | 9 | ········· |
| In a ten-knot gale of royal rage; | 9 | ······/˘· |
| The other leech grew a shade pale; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But he pensively rubbed his sagacious nose, | 11 | ··/˘˘··˘/˘· |
| And thus his prescription ran,-- | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| The King will be well, if he sleeps one night | 10 | ·········· |
| In the Shirt of a Happy Man. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Wide o'er the realm the couriers rode, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And fast their horses ran, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And many they saw, and to many they spoke, | 9 | ·/····/·· |
| But they found no Happy Man. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| They found poor men who would fain be rich | 9 | ········· |
| And rich who thought they were poor; | 7 | ······· |
| And men who twisted their waists in stays, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And women that shorthose wore. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| They saw two men by the roadside sit, | 9 | ······/·· |
| And both bemoaned their lot; | 7 | ··˘/˘·· |
| For one had buried his wife, he said, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And the other one had not. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| At last they came to a village gate, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| A beggar lay whistling there; | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| He whistled and sang and laughed and rolled | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| On the grass in the soft June air. | 8 | ········ |
| The weary couriers paused and looked | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| At the scamp so blithe and gay; | 7 | ······· |
| And one of them said, "Heaven save you, friend! | 9 | ·····/··· |
| You seem to be happy to-day." | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| "O yes, fair sirs!" the rascal laughed, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And his voice rang free and glad, | 7 | ······· |
| "An idle man has so much to do | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| That he never has time to be sad." | 8 | ··/····· |
| "This is our man," the courier said | 8 | ··/··/˘· |
| "Our luck has led us aright. | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| I will give you a hundred ducats, friend, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For the loan of your shirt to-night." | 8 | ········ |
| The merry blackguard lay back on the grass, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And laughed till his face was black; | 8 | ··˘····· |
| "I would do it, God wot," and he roared with the fun, | 12 | ············ |
| "But I haven't a shirt to my back." | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Each day to the King the reports came in | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Of his unsuccessful spies, | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| And the sad panorama of human woes | 11 | ····˘/˘·/˘· |
| Passed daily under his eyes. | 8 | ·˘/˘···· |
| And he grew ashamed of his useless life, | 10 | ···˘/··/˘· |
| And his maladies hatched in gloom; | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| He opened his windows and let the air | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| Of the free heaven into his room. | 8 | ···/···· |
| And out he went in the world and toiled | 9 | ········· |
| In his own appointed way; | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| And the people blessed him, the land was glad, | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| And the King was well and gay. | 7 | ······· |
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.