Crumbs
Up to my frozen window-shelfEach day a begging birdie comes,And when I have a crust myselfThe birdie always gets the crumbs.
They say who on the water throwsHis bread, will get it back again;If that is true, perhaps--who knows?--I have not cast my crumbs in vain.
Indeed, I know it is not quiteThe thing to boast of one’s good deed;To what the left hand does, the right,I am aware, should pay no heed.
Yet if in modest verse I tellMy tale, some editor, maybe,May like it very much, and--well,My bread will then return to me.
Oh, where the white quince blossom swingsI love to take my Japan ease!I love the maid Anise who clingsSo lightly on my Japan knees;I love the little song she sings,The little love-song Japanese.I almost love the lute’s tink tunklePlayed by that charming Jap Anise--For am I not her old Jap uncle?And is she not my Japan niece?
Words in this poem
- birdie n.
- A pretty or dear little bird; -- a pet name.
- maybe adv.
- Perhaps; possibly; peradventure. [For it may be.]
- tink v. i.
- To make a sharp, shrill noise; to tinkle. Wyclif (1 Cor. xiii. [OE. tinken; of imitative origin. Cf. Ting a tinkling, Tinker.]
- niece n.
- A relative, in general; especially, a descendant, whether male or female; a granddaughter or a grandson. B. Jonson. Wyclif. [OE. nece, F. nièce, LL. neptia, for L. neptis a granddaughter, niece, akin to nepos. See Nephew.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Crumbs 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, Crumbs, in The Bashful Earthquake, and Other Fables and Verses (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56765, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herford-bashful-earthquake/crumbs.html, id L22099.
Form and metre
Crumbs is 26 lines in 5 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 ABAB shelfA · comesB · myselfA · crumbsB
- 2 ABAB throwsA · againB · knowsA · vainB
- 3 ABAB quiteA · deedB · rightA · heedB
- 4 A-A- tellA · maybe · wellA · me
- 5 ABABABCDCD swingsA · easeB · clingsA · kneesB · singsA · japaneseB · tunkleC · aniseD · uncleC · nieceD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Up to my frozen window-shelf | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Each day a begging birdie comes, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And when I have a crust myself | 8 | ·······/ |
| The birdie always gets the crumbs. | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| They say who on the water throws | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| His bread, will get it back again; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| If that is true, perhaps--who knows?-- | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| I have not cast my crumbs in vain. | 8 | ········ |
| Indeed, I know it is not quite | 8 | ˘/······ |
| The thing to boast of one’s good deed; | 8 | ········ |
| To what the left hand does, the right, | 8 | ········ |
| I am aware, should pay no heed. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Yet if in modest verse I tell | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| My tale, some editor, maybe, | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| May like it very much, and--well, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| My bread will then return to me. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Oh, where the white quince blossom swings | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I love to take my Japan ease! | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| I love the maid Anise who clings | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| So lightly on my Japan knees; | 8 | ·/˘··˘/· |
| I love the little song she sings, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The little love-song Japanese. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| I almost love the lute’s tink tunkle | 9 | ·/······· |
| Played by that charming Jap Anise-- | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| For am I not her old Jap uncle? | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And is she not my Japan niece? | 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.