To the Wolf at the Door
O Wolf, I do not dread thee as of yore,Time was when I would tremble in my shoesAt sight of thee--when lo! my pity’ng MuseBrought me wherewith to drive thee from the door.And since at last, O Wolf, my waning storeHas lured thee back, she will not now refuseMy invocation. So I cannot chooseBut cry, “Help! Wolf!” that she may come once more.Mine is a Muse that listens with disdainTo any call save that of appetite;And till thou earnest all my prayers were vain,For while my purse was full, my brain was light.Therefore, O Wolf, I welcome thee againTo speed the Muse--that I may dine to-night.
Words in this poem
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- wherewith adv.
- With which; -- used relatively.
- waning n.
- The act or process of waning, or decreasing.
- dine v. i.
- To eat the principal regular meal of the day; to take dinner. [F. dîner, OF. disner, LL. disnare, contr. fr. an assumed disjunare; dis- + an assumed junare (OF. juner) to fast, for L. jejunare, fr. jejunus fasting. See Jeju]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To the Wolf at the Door 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, To the Wolf at the Door, in The Bashful Earthquake, and Other Fables and Verses (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56765, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herford-bashful-earthquake/to-the-wolf-at-the-door.html, id L22132.
Form and metre
To the Wolf at the Door is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDCD, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other Italian sonnets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBAABBACDCDCD yoreA · shoesB · museB · doorA · storeA · refuseB · chooseB · moreA · disdainC · appetiteD · vainC · lightD · againC · nightD
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O Wolf, I do not dread thee as of yore, | 10 | ·········· |
| Time was when I would tremble in my shoes | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| At sight of thee--when lo! my pity’ng Muse | 10 | ·········· |
| Brought me wherewith to drive thee from the door. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| And since at last, O Wolf, my waning store | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Has lured thee back, she will not now refuse | 10 | ········˘/ |
| My invocation. So I cannot choose | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| But cry, “Help! Wolf!” that she may come once more. | 10 | ·········· |
| Mine is a Muse that listens with disdain | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| To any call save that of appetite; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And till thou earnest all my prayers were vain, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For while my purse was full, my brain was light. | 10 | ·········· |
| Therefore, O Wolf, I welcome thee again | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| To speed the Muse--that I may dine to-night. | 10 | ·········· |
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.