On a Picture of Hero and Leander
Why, Lover, whySuch a water rover?Would she love thee moreFor coming half seas over?
So in love with dipping?Must a lad of GreeceCome all over dripping?
Why, Cupid, whyMake the passage brighter?Were not any boatBetter than a lighter?
Why, Madam, whySo intrusive standing?Must thou be on the stairWhen he’s on the landing?
Words in this poem
- rover n.
- One who practices robbery on the seas; a pirate. [D. roover a robber. See Rove, v. i.]
- dripping n.
- A falling in drops, or the sound so made.
- cupid
- The god of love, son of Venus; usually represented as a naked, winged boy with bow and arrow. [L.Cupido, fr. cupido desire, desire of love, fr. cupidus. See Cupidity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On a Picture of Hero and Leander 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, On a Picture of Hero and Leander, in Poems (1827–1845), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56712, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hood-poems/on-a-picture-of-hero-and-leander.html, id L06756.
Form and metre
On a Picture of Hero and Leander is 15 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.5 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 47% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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 why · roverA · more · overA
- 2 A-A dippingA · greece · drippingA
- 3 -A-A why · brighterA · boat · lighterA
- 4 -A-A why · standingA · stair · landingA
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 trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Why, Lover, why | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Such a water rover? | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Would she love thee more | 5 | ····· |
| For coming half seas over? | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| So in love with dipping? | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Must a lad of Greece | 5 | ····· |
| Come all over dripping? | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Why, Cupid, why | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Make the passage brighter? | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Were not any boat | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Better than a lighter? | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Why, Madam, why | 4 | ·/˘· |
| So intrusive standing? | 6 | ·˘/˘/˘ |
| Must thou be on the stair | 6 | ······ |
| When he’s on the landing? | 6 | ····/˘ |
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.