All Aboard!
Just two minutes more!O Tempus, stand still,Stand still, I implore,One moment, untilI have time to reflectOn what I would say.Give me time to collectMy senses, I pray,Until I have saidWhat my courage was mountingTo say, when insteadI was stupidly countingThe moments that fled!O Tempus! you’re flying!A plague on this parting,This sighing, goodbying,This smiling and smarting;A plague too uponThis--Heavens! it’s starting!Good bye!--There, she’s gone!
About this text
All Aboard! is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Bashful Earthquake, & Other Fables and Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #56765; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Oliver Herford, All Aboard!, in The Bashful Earthquake, and Other Fables and Verses (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56765, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herford-bashful-earthquake/all-aboard.html, id L22126.
Form and metre
All Aboard! is 21 lines in a single stanza. The metre is anapaestic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in anapaestic dimeter.
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 ABABCDCDEFEFEGHGH-H-- moreA · stillB · imploreA · untilB · reflectC · sayD · collectC · prayD · saidE · mountingF · insteadE · countingF · fledE · flyingG · partingH · goodbyingG · smartingH · upon · startingH · bye · gone
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 anapaestic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Just two minutes more! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| O Tempus, stand still, | 5 | ····· |
| Stand still, I implore, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| One moment, until | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| I have time to reflect | 6 | ····˘/ |
| On what I would say. | 5 | ····· |
| Give me time to collect | 6 | ····˘/ |
| My senses, I pray, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Until I have said | 5 | ····· |
| What my courage was mounting | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| To say, when instead | 5 | ···˘/ |
| I was stupidly counting | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| The moments that fled! | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| O Tempus! you’re flying! | 6 | ····/˘ |
| A plague on this parting, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| This sighing, goodbying, | 6 | ·/˘/·˘ |
| This smiling and smarting; | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| A plague too upon | 5 | ····· |
| This--Heavens! it’s starting! | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Good bye!-- | 2 | ·· |
| There, she’s gone! | 3 | ··· |
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.