Interlude
O, THE fun, the fun and frolicThat The Wind that Shakes the BarleyScatters through a penny-whistleTickled with artistic fingers!
Kate the scrubber (forty summers,Stout but sportive) treads a measure,Grinning, in herself a ballet,Fixed as fate upon her audience.
Stumps are shaking, crutch-supported;Splinted fingers tap the rhythm;And a head all helmed with plastersWags a measured approbation.
Of their mattress-life oblivious,All the patients, brisk and cheerful,Are encouraging the dancer,And applauding the musician.
Dim the gas-lights in the outputOf so many ardent smokers,Full of shadow lurch the corners,And the doctor peeps and passes.
There are, maybe, some suspicionsOf an alcoholic presence . . .‘Tak’ a sup of this, my wumman!’ . . .New Year comes but once a twelvemonth.
Words in this poem
- kate n.
- The brambling finch.
- scrubber n.
- One who, or that which, scrubs; esp., a brush used in scrubbing.
- ballet n.
- An artistic dance performed as a theatrical entertainment, or an interlude, by a number of persons, usually women. Sometimes, a scene accompanied by pantomime and dancing. [F., a dim. of bal dance. See 2d Ball, n.]
- helmed a.
- Covered with a helmet.
- approbation n.
- Proof; attestation. [L. approbatio: cf. F. approbation. See Approve to prove.]
- mattress n.
- A quilted bed; a bed stuffed with hair, moss, or other suitable material, and quilted or otherwise fastened. [OF. materas, F. matelas, LL. matratium; cf. Sp. & Pg. almadraque, Pr. almatrac; all from Ar. matsrah a place where anything is thrown, what is thrown under some]
- oblivious a.
- Promoting oblivion; causing forgetfulness. [L.obliviosus: cf.F. oblivieux.]
- output n.
- The amount of coal or ore put out from one or more mines, or the quantity of material produced by, or turned out from, one or more furnaces or mills, in a given time.
- lurch v. t.
- To leave in the lurch; to cheat.
- maybe adv.
- Perhaps; possibly; peradventure. [For it may be.]
- twelvemonth n.
- A year which consists of twelve calendar months.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Interlude is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1568; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: W. E. Henley, Interlude, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/interlude.html, id L12338.
Form and metre
Interlude is 24 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 21 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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.
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O, THE fun, the fun and frolic | 8 | ······/˘ |
| That The Wind that Shakes the Barley | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Scatters through a penny-whistle | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Tickled with artistic fingers! | 8 | /˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Kate the scrubber (forty summers, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Stout but sportive) treads a measure, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Grinning, in herself a ballet, | 8 | /˘·˘/·˘/ |
| Fixed as fate upon her audience. | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| Stumps are shaking, crutch-supported; | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Splinted fingers tap the rhythm; | 8 | /˘/˘··/˘ |
| And a head all helmed with plasters | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Wags a measured approbation. | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Of their mattress-life oblivious, | 9 | ··/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| All the patients, brisk and cheerful, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Are encouraging the dancer, | 8 | ·˘/˘˘·/˘ |
| And applauding the musician. | 8 | ·˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Dim the gas-lights in the output | 8 | ······/· |
| Of so many ardent smokers, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Full of shadow lurch the corners, | 8 | ··/···/˘ |
| And the doctor peeps and passes. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| There are, maybe, some suspicions | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Of an alcoholic presence . . . | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| ‘Tak’ a sup of this, my wumman!’ . . . | 8 | ········ |
| New Year comes but once a twelvemonth. | 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.