No!
No sun--no moon!No morn--no noon--No dawn--no dusk--no proper time of day--No sky--no earthly view--No distance looking blue--No road--no street--no “t’other side the way”--No end to any Row--No indications where the Crescents go--No top to any steeple--No recognitions of familiar people--No courtesies for showing ’em--No knowing ’em!--No travelling at all--no locomotion,No inkling of the way--no notion--“No go”--by land or ocean--No mail--no post--No news from any foreign coast--No Park--no Ring--no afternoon gentility--No company--no nobility--No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,No comfortable feel in any member--No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds,--November!
Words in this poem
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- locomotion n.
- The act of moving from place to place. [L. locus place + motio motion: cf. F. locomotion. See Local, and Motion.]
- inkling n.
- A hint; an intimation.
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
- gentility n.
- Good extraction; dignity of birth. [L. gentilitas the relationship of those who belong to the same clan, also, heathenism: cf. F. gentilité heathenism. See Gentile.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
No! is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Comic Poems of Thomas Hood A New and Complete Edition, Project Gutenberg ebook #56712; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Hood, No!, in Poems (1827–1845), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56712, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hood-poems/no.html, id L18530.
Form and metre
No! is 24 lines in a single stanza. 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 AABCCBDDEEFFGGGHH--IJI-J moonA · noonA · dayB · viewC · blueC · wayB · rowD · goD · steepleE · peopleE · emF · emF · locomotionG · notionG · oceanG · postH · coastH · gentility · nobility · easeI · memberJ · beesI · birds · novemberJ
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| No sun--no moon! | 4 | ···· |
| No morn--no noon-- | 4 | ···· |
| No dawn--no dusk--no proper time of day-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| No sky--no earthly view-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| No distance looking blue-- | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| No road--no street--no “t’other side the way”-- | 11 | ·····˘/˘··· |
| No end to any Row-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| No indications where the Crescents go-- | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| No top to any steeple-- | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| No recognitions of familiar people-- | 11 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| No courtesies for showing ’em-- | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| No knowing ’em!-- | 4 | ·/˘· |
| No travelling at all--no locomotion, | 10 | ·/˘····˘/˘ |
| No inkling of the way--no notion-- | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| “No go”--by land or ocean-- | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| No mail--no post-- | 4 | ···· |
| No news from any foreign coast-- | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| No Park--no Ring--no afternoon gentility-- | 11 | ······˘/˘/˘ |
| No company--no nobility-- | 9 | ·/˘˘·˘/˘˘ |
| No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease, | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| No comfortable feel in any member-- | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds,-- | 8 | ···/···· |
| November! | 3 | ˘/˘ |
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.