To Lord Wharncliffe, on His Game-Bill
I’m fond of partridges, I’m fond of snipes,I’m fond of black cocks, for they’re very good cocks--I’m fond of wild ducks, and I’m fond of woodcocks--And grouse that set up such strange moorish pipes.I’m fond of pheasants with their splendid stripes--I’m fond of hares, whether from Whig or Tory--I’m fond of capercailzies in their glory,--Teal, widgeons, plovers, birds in all their types:All these are in your care, Law-giving Peer,And when you next address your Lordly Babel,Some clause put in your Bill, precise and clear,With due and fit provision to enableA man that holds all kinds of game so dearTo keep, like Crockford, a good Gaming Table.
Words in this poem
- teal n.
- Any one of several species of small fresh-water ducks of the genus Anas and the subgenera Querquedula and Nettion. The male is handsomely colored, and has a bright green or blue speculum on the wings. [OE. tele; akin to D. teling a generation, production, teal, telen to breed, produce, and E. till to cultivate. The English word probably once meant, a brood or ]
- babel n.
- The city and tower in the land of Shinar, where the confusion of languages took place. [Heb. Babel, the name of the capital of Babylonia; in Genesis associated with the idea of "confusion"]
- enable v. t.
- To give strength or ability to; to make firm and strong.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Lord Wharncliffe, on His Game-Bill 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, To Lord Wharncliffe, on His Game-Bill, in Poems (1827–1845), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56712, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hood-poems/to-lord-wharncliffe-on-his-game-bill.html, id L06799.
Form and metre
To Lord Wharncliffe, on His Game-Bill is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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--AABBAC-CDCD snipesA · cocks · woodcocks · pipesA · stripesA · toryB · gloryB · typesA · peerC · babel · clearC · enableD · dearC · tableD
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I’m fond of partridges, I’m fond of snipes, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| I’m fond of black cocks, for they’re very good cocks-- | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| I’m fond of wild ducks, and I’m fond of woodcocks-- | 11 | ·········/· |
| And grouse that set up such strange moorish pipes. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I’m fond of pheasants with their splendid stripes-- | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| I’m fond of hares, whether from Whig or Tory-- | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| I’m fond of capercailzies in their glory,-- | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Teal, widgeons, plovers, birds in all their types: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| All these are in your care, Law-giving Peer, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And when you next address your Lordly Babel, | 11 | ····˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Some clause put in your Bill, precise and clear, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| With due and fit provision to enable | 11 | ····˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| A man that holds all kinds of game so dear | 10 | ·········· |
| To keep, like Crockford, a good Gaming Table. | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
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.