Contentment
LITTLE I ask; my wants are few;I only wish a hut of stone,(A very plain brown stone will do,)That I may call my own;--And close at hand is such a one,In yonder street that fronts the sun.
Plain food is quite enough for me;Three courses are as good as ten;--If Nature can subsist on three,Thank Heaven for three. AmenI always thought cold victual nice;--My choice would be vanilla-ice.
I care not much for gold or land;--Give me a mortgage here and there,--Some good bank-stock, some note of hand,Or trifling railroad share,--I only ask that Fortune sendA little more than I shall spend.
Honors are silly toys, I know,And titles are but empty names;I would, perhaps, be Plenipo,--But only near St. James;I'm very sure I should not careTo fill our Gubernator's chair.
Jewels are baubles; 't is a sinTo care for such unfruitful things;--One good-sized diamond in a pin,--Some, not so large, in rings,--A ruby, and a pearl, or so,Will do for me;--I laugh at show.
My dame should dress in cheap attire;(Good, heavy silks are never dear;)--I own perhaps I might desireSome shawls of true Cashmere,--Some marrowy crapes of China silk,Like wrinkled skins on scalded milk.
I would not have the horse I driveSo fast that folks must stop and stare;An easy gait--two, forty-five--Suits me; I do not care;--Perhaps, for just a single spurt,Some seconds less would do no hurt.
Of pictures, I should like to ownTitians and Raphaels three or four,--I love so much their style and tone,One Turner, and no more,(A landscape,--foreground golden dirt,--The sunshine painted with a squirt.)
Of books but few,--some fifty scoreFor daily use, and bound for wear;The rest upon an upper floor;--Some little luxury thereOf red morocco's gilded gleamAnd vellum rich as country cream.
Busts, cameos, gems,--such things as these,Which others often show for pride,I value for their power to please,And selfish churls deride;--One Stradivarius, I confess,Two Meerschaums, I would fain possess.
Wealth's wasteful tricks I will not learn,Nor ape the glittering upstart fool;--Shall not carved tables serve my turn,But all must be of buhl?Give grasping pomp its double share,--I ask but one recumbent chair.
Thus humble let me live and die,Nor long for Midas' golden touch;If Heaven more generous gifts deny,I shall not miss them much,--Too grateful for the blessing lentOf simple tastes and mind content!
Words in this poem 16
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- subsist v. i.
- To be; to have existence; to inhere. [L. subsistere to stand still, stay, remain alive; sub under + sistere to stand, to cause to stand, from stare to stand: cf. F. subsister. See Stand.]
- thank n.
- A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
- amen interj.
- An expression used at the end of prayers, and meaning, So be it. At the end of a creed, it is a solemn asseveration of belief. [L. amen, Gr. am certainly, truly.]
- victual n.
- Food; -- now used chiefly in the plural. See Victuals. 2 Chron.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- marrowy a.
- Full of marrow; pithy.
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- turner n.
- One who turns; especially, one whose occupation is to form articles with a lathe.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- squirt v. t.
- To drive or eject in a stream out of a narrow pipe or orifice; as, to squirt water. [Cf. LG. swirtjen to squirt, OSw. sqvätta, E. squander.]
- deride v. t.
- To laugh at with contempt; to laugh to scorn; to turn to ridicule or make sport of; to mock; to scoff at. [L. deridere, derisum; de- + rid to laugh. See Ridicule.]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- buhl n.
- Decorative woodwork in which tortoise shell, yellow metal, white metal, etc., are inlaid, forming scrolls, cartouches, etc. [From A.Ch.Boule, a French carver in wood.]
- generous a.
- Of honorable birth or origin; highborn. [F. généreux, fr. L. generous of noble birth, noble, excellent, magnanimous, fr. genus birth, race: cf. It. generoso. See 2d Gender.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Contentment is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 06 Poems from the Breakfast Table Series, Project Gutenberg ebook #7393; 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 Wendell Holmes, Contentment, in Poems from the Breakfast-Table Series (1858), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7393, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/holmes-breakfast-table-poems/contentment.html, id L23566.
Form and metre
Contentment is 72 lines in 12 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 11 of its 12 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 ABABCC fewA · stoneB · doA · ownB · oneC · sunC
- 2 ABABCC meA · tenB · threeA · amenB · niceC · iceC
- 3 ABABCC landA · thereB · handA · shareB · sendC · spendC
- 4 -A-ABB know · namesA · plenipo · jamesA · careB · chairB
- 5 ABABCC sinA · thingsB · pinA · ringsB · soC · showC
- 6 ABABCC attireA · dearB · desireA · cashmereB · silkC · milkC
- 7 ABABCC driveA · stareB · fiveA · careB · spurtC · hurtC
- 8 ABABCC ownA · fourB · toneA · moreB · dirtC · squirtC
- 9 ABABCC scoreA · wearB · floorA · thereB · gleamC · creamC
- 10 ABABCC theseA · prideB · pleaseA · derideB · confessC · possessC
- 11 ABABCC learnA · foolB · turnA · buhlB · shareC · chairC
- 12 ABABCC dieA · touchB · denyA · muchB · lentC · contentC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| LITTLE I ask; my wants are few; | 8 | /˘······ |
| I only wish a hut of stone, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| (A very plain brown stone will do,) | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That I may call my own;-- | 6 | ······ |
| And close at hand is such a one, | 8 | ········ |
| In yonder street that fronts the sun. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Plain food is quite enough for me; | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Three courses are as good as ten;-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| If Nature can subsist on three, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Thank Heaven for three. Amen | 7 | ·/˘··˘/ |
| I always thought cold victual nice;-- | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| My choice would be vanilla-ice. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| I care not much for gold or land;-- | 8 | ········ |
| Give me a mortgage here and there,-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Some good bank-stock, some note of hand, | 8 | ········ |
| Or trifling railroad share,-- | 6 | ·/˘/·· |
| I only ask that Fortune send | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A little more than I shall spend. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Honors are silly toys, I know, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| And titles are but empty names; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I would, perhaps, be Plenipo,-- | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| But only near St. James; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I'm very sure I should not care | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To fill our Gubernator's chair. | 8 | ··/····· |
| Jewels are baubles; 't is a sin | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| To care for such unfruitful things;-- | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| One good-sized diamond in a pin,-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Some, not so large, in rings,-- | 6 | ······ |
| A ruby, and a pearl, or so, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Will do for me;--I laugh at show. | 8 | ········ |
| My dame should dress in cheap attire; | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| (Good, heavy silks are never dear;)-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I own perhaps I might desire | 9 | ··˘/··˘/˘ |
| Some shawls of true Cashmere,-- | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Some marrowy crapes of China silk, | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| Like wrinkled skins on scalded milk. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I would not have the horse I drive | 8 | ········ |
| So fast that folks must stop and stare; | 8 | ········ |
| An easy gait--two, forty-five-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Suits me; I do not care;-- | 6 | ······ |
| Perhaps, for just a single spurt, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Some seconds less would do no hurt. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of pictures, I should like to own | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Titians and Raphaels three or four,-- | 9 | /˘··˘/··· |
| I love so much their style and tone, | 8 | ········ |
| One Turner, and no more, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| (A landscape,--foreground golden dirt,-- | 8 | ·/·/·/˘· |
| The sunshine painted with a squirt.) | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| Of books but few,--some fifty score | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For daily use, and bound for wear; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The rest upon an upper floor;-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Some little luxury there | 7 | ·/˘/˘˘· |
| Of red morocco's gilded gleam | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| And vellum rich as country cream. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Busts, cameos, gems,--such things as these, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Which others often show for pride, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| I value for their power to please, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| And selfish churls deride;-- | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| One Stradivarius, I confess, | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Two Meerschaums, I would fain possess. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Wealth's wasteful tricks I will not learn, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Nor ape the glittering upstart fool;-- | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| Shall not carved tables serve my turn, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But all must be of buhl? | 6 | ······ |
| Give grasping pomp its double share,-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I ask but one recumbent chair. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Thus humble let me live and die, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Nor long for Midas' golden touch; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| If Heaven more generous gifts deny, | 8 | ·/·/˘·˘/ |
| I shall not miss them much,-- | 6 | ······ |
| Too grateful for the blessing lent | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Of simple tastes and mind content! | 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.