With Slight Alterations by a Teetotaler—(...)
COME! fill a fresh bumper, for why should we goWhile the nectar (logwood) still reddens our cups as they flow?Pour out the rich juices (decoction) still bright with the sun,Till o'er the brimmed crystal the rubies (dye-stuff) shall run.
Then a smile (scowl) and a glass (howl) and a toast (scoff) and a cheer(sneer);For all the good wine, and we 've some of it here! (strychnine andwhiskey, and ratsbane and beer!)In cellar, in pantry, in attic, in hall,Long live the gay servant that laughs for us all! (Down, down with thetyrant that masters us all!)
Words in this poem
- bumper n.
- A cup or glass filled to the brim, or till the liquor runs over, particularly in drinking a health or toast. [A corruption of bumbard, bombard, a large drinking vessel.]
- 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,]
- scowl v. i.
- To wrinkle the brows, as in frowning or displeasure; to put on a frowning look; to look sour, sullen, severe, or angry. [Akin to Dan. skule; cf. Icel. skolla to skulk, LG. schulen to hide one's self, D. schuilen, G. schielen to squint, Dan. skele, Sw. skela, AS. sceolh squinting. ]
- whiskey n.
- A light carriage built for rapid motion; -- called also tim- whiskey. [See Whisk, v. t. & n.]
- ratsbane n.
- Rat poison; white arsenic. [Rat + bane.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
With Slight Alterations by a Teetotaler—(...) 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, With Slight Alterations by a Teetotaler—(...), in Poems from the Breakfast-Table Series (1858), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7393, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/holmes-breakfast-table-poems/with-slight-alterations-by-a-teetotaler.html, id L23570.
Form and metre
With Slight Alterations by a Teetotaler—(...) is 11 lines in 2 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
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 AABB goA · flowA · sunB · runB
- 2 AA-AB-B cheerA · sneerA · and · beerA · hallB · the · allB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| COME! fill a fresh bumper, for why should we go | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| While the nectar (logwood) still reddens our cups as they flow? | 14 | ··/˘/··/˘/···· |
| Pour out the rich juices (decoction) still bright with the sun, | 14 | ····/˘˘/˘····· |
| Till o'er the brimmed crystal the rubies (dye-stuff) shall run. | 13 | ····/˘·/˘···· |
| Then a smile (scowl) and a glass (howl) and a toast (scoff) and a cheer | 15 | ··············· |
| (sneer); | 1 | · |
| For all the good wine, and we 've some of it here! (strychnine and | 15 | ············/·· |
| whiskey, and ratsbane and beer!) | 7 | /˘·/˘·· |
| In cellar, in pantry, in attic, in hall, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Long live the gay servant that laughs for us all! (Down, down with the | 15 | ····/˘········· |
| tyrant that masters us all!) | 7 | /˘·/˘·· |
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.