My Aunt
MY aunt! my dear unmarried aunt!Long years have o'er her flown;Yet still she strains the aching claspThat binds her virgin zone;I know it hurts her,--though she looksAs cheerful as she can;Her waist is ampler than her life,For life is but a span.
My aunt! my poor deluded aunt!Her hair is almost gray;Why will she train that winter curlIn such a spring-like way?How can she lay her glasses down,And say she reads as well,When through a double convex lensShe just makes out to spell?
Her father--grandpapa I forgiveThis erring lip its smiles--Vowed she should make the finest girlWithin a hundred miles;He sent her to a stylish school;'T was in her thirteenth June;And with her, as the rules required,"Two towels and a spoon."
They braced my aunt against a board,To make her straight and tall;They laced her up, they starved her down,To make her light and small;They pinched her feet, they singed her hair,They screwed it up with pins;--Oh never mortal suffered moreIn penance for her sins.
So, when my precious aunt was done,My grandsire brought her back;(By daylight, lest some rabid youthMight follow on the track;)"Ah!" said my grandsire, as he shookSome powder in his pan,"What could this lovely creature doAgainst a desperate man!"
Alas! nor chariot, nor barouche,Nor bandit cavalcade,Tore from the trembling father's armsHis all-accomplished maid.For her how happy had it beenAnd Heaven had spared to meTo see one sad, ungathered roseOn my ancestral tree.
Words in this poem
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- aching a.
- That aches; continuously painful. See Ache.
- stylish a.
- Having style or artistic quality; given to, or fond of, the display of style; highly fashionable; modish; as, a stylish dress, house, manner.
- laced a.
- Fastened with a lace or laces; decorated with narrow strips or braid. See Lace, v. t.
- grandsire n.
- Specifically, a grandfather; more generally, any ancestor. [OF. grantsire. See Grand, and Sire.]
- daylight n.
- The light of day as opposed to the darkness of night; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or to artificial light.
- rabid a.
- Furious; raging; extremely violent.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- desperate a.
- Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.]
- barouche n.
- A four-wheeled carriage, with a falling top, a seat on the outside for the driver, and two double seats on the inside arranged so that the sitters on the front seat face those on the back seat. [G. barutsche, It. baroccio, biroccio, LL. barrotium, fr. L. birotus two-wheeled; bi=bis twice + rota wheel.]
- bandit n.
- An outlaw; a brigand. [It. bandito outlaw, p.p. of bandire to proclaim, to banish, to proscribe, LL. bandire, bannire. See Ban an edict, and cf. Banish.]
- cavalcade n.
- A procession of persons on horseback; a formal, pompous march of horsemen by way of parade. [F. cavalcade, fr. It. cavalcata, fr. cavalcare to go on horseback, fr. LL. caballicare, fr. L. caballus an inferior horse, Gr. Cavalier, Cavalry.]
- tore n.
- The dead grass that remains on mowing land in winter and spring. Mortimer. [Probably from the root of tear; cf. W. tór a break, cut, tóri to break, cut.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
My Aunt is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 01: Earlier Poems (1830-1836), Project Gutenberg ebook #7388; 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, My Aunt, in Poetical Works, Volume I (1830–1848), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7388, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/holmes-poems/my-aunt.html, id L00462.
Form and metre
My Aunt is 48 lines in 6 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 -A-A-B-B aunt · flownA · clasp · zoneA · looks · canB · life · spanB
- 2 -A-A-B-B aunt · grayA · curl · wayA · down · wellB · lens · spellB
- 3 -A-A-B-B forgive · smilesA · girl · milesA · school · juneB · required · spoonB
- 4 -A-A-B-B board · tallA · down · smallA · hair · pinsB · more · sinsB
- 5 -A-A-B-B done · backA · youth · trackA · shook · panB · do · manB
- 6 -A-A-B-B barouche · cavalcadeA · arms · maidA · been · meB · rose · treeB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| MY aunt! my dear unmarried aunt! | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Long years have o'er her flown; | 6 | ······ |
| Yet still she strains the aching clasp | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That binds her virgin zone; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I know it hurts her,--though she looks | 8 | ········ |
| As cheerful as she can; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Her waist is ampler than her life, | 8 | ········ |
| For life is but a span. | 6 | ······ |
| My aunt! my poor deluded aunt! | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Her hair is almost gray; | 6 | ···/·· |
| Why will she train that winter curl | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In such a spring-like way? | 6 | ······ |
| How can she lay her glasses down, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And say she reads as well, | 6 | ······ |
| When through a double convex lens | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| She just makes out to spell? | 6 | ······ |
| Her father--grandpapa I forgive | 9 | ·/˘····˘/ |
| This erring lip its smiles-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Vowed she should make the finest girl | 9 | ·˘····/˘· |
| Within a hundred miles; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| He sent her to a stylish school; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'T was in her thirteenth June; | 7 | ····//· |
| And with her, as the rules required, | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| "Two towels and a spoon." | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| They braced my aunt against a board, | 9 | ··˘······ |
| To make her straight and tall; | 6 | ······ |
| They laced her up, they starved her down, | 10 | ··˘····˘·· |
| To make her light and small; | 6 | ······ |
| They pinched her feet, they singed her hair, | 10 | ··˘····˘·· |
| They screwed it up with pins;-- | 6 | ······ |
| Oh never mortal suffered more | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘· |
| In penance for her sins. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| So, when my precious aunt was done, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| My grandsire brought her back; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| (By daylight, lest some rabid youth | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Might follow on the track;) | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| "Ah!" said my grandsire, as he shook | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Some powder in his pan, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| "What could this lovely creature do | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Against a desperate man!" | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Alas! nor chariot, nor barouche, | 9 | ˘/·/˘˘·˘/ |
| Nor bandit cavalcade, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Tore from the trembling father's arms | 9 | ···/˘˘/˘· |
| His all-accomplished maid. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| For her how happy had it been | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And Heaven had spared to me | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| To see one sad, ungathered rose | 9 | ·······˘· |
| On my ancestral tree. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
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