To Mr. Wrench at the English Opera House
Oh very pleasant Mr. Wrench,--The first, upon the pit’s first bench,I’ve scrambled to my place,To hail thee on these summer boardsWith joy, even critic-craft affords,And watch thy welcome face!
Ere thou art come, how I rejoiceTo hear thy free and easy voice,Lounging about the slips;And then thy figure comes and ownsThe voice as careless as the tonesThat saunter from thy lips.
Oh come and cast a quiet glance,To glad a nameless friend, askanceThe lamps’ ascending glare;Better it is than bended knees,Heart-squeezing, and profound congés--That old familiar air.
Even in the street, in that apt face,Full of gay gravity, I traceThe soul of native whim;A constant, never-failing storeOf quiet mirth, that ne’er runs o’er,But aye is near the brim.
Quoth I, “There goes a happy wight,Inimical to spleen and spite,And careless of all care;Who oils the ruffled waves of strife,And makes the work-day suit of lifeOf very easy wear.
Lord! if he had some people’s illsTo cope--their hungry bonds and bills,How faintly they would tease;Things that have cost both tears and sighs--Their foes, as motelings in his eyes--Their duns, his summer fleas!
The stage, I guess, is not thy school--Thou dost not antic like the foolThat wept behind his mask;Thy playing is thy play--a sport--A revel, as perform’d at Court,And not a trade--a task!
Gay Freeman, art thou hired for him?No--‘tis thy humour and thy whimTo be that easy guest;Whereas whoever plays for pelf,(Like Bennett) only gives him-self,Or her--like Mrs. West!
Nay, thou--to look beyond the stage,Thy life is but another pageContinued of the play;The same companionable sprite--Thy whim and pleasantry by nightAre with thee in the day!
Words in this poem 15
- wrench n.
- Trick; deceit; fraud; stratagem. [OE. wrench deceit, AS. wrenc deceit, a twisting; akin to G. rank intrigue, crookedness, renken to bend, twist, and E. wring. Wring, and cf. Ranch, v. t.]
- craft n.
- Strength; might; secret power. [AS. cr strength, skill, art, cunning; akin to OS., G., Sw., & Dan. kraft strength, D. kracht, Icel. kraptr; perh. originally, a drawing together, stretching, fr]
- nameless a.
- Without a name; not having been given a name; as, a nameless star.
- askance adv.
- Sideways; obliquely; with a side glance; with disdain, envy, or suspicion. [Cf. D. schuin, schuins, sideways, schuiven to shove, schuinte slope. Cf. Asquint.]
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- wight n.
- A whit; a bit; a jot. [OE. wight, wiht, a wight, a whit, AS. wiht, wuht, a creature, a thing; skin to D. wicht a child, OS. & OHG. wiht a creature, thing, G. wicht a creature, Icel. v]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- antic v. t.
- To make appear like a buffoon.
- humour n.
- Moisture, especially, the moisture or fluid of animal bodies, as the chyle, lymph, etc.; as, the humors of the eye, etc. [OE. humour, OF. humor, umor, F. humeur, L. humor, umor, moisture, fluid, fr. humere, umere, to be moist. See Humid.]
- whereas adv.
- At which place; where.
- whoever pron.
- Whatever person; any person who; be or she who; any one who; as, he shall be punished, whoever he may be.
- pelf n.
- Money; riches; lucre; gain; -- generally conveying the idea of something ill-gotten or worthless. It has no plural. [OE. pelfir booty, OF. pelfre, akin to pelfrer to plunder, and perh. to E. pillage. Cf. Pilfer.]
- bennett n.
- The common yellow-flowered avens of Europe (Geum urbanum); herb bennet. The name is sometimes given to other plants, as the hemlock, valerian, etc. [F. benoîte, fr. L. benedicta, fem. of benedictus, p. p., blessed. See Benedict, a.]
- sprite n.
- A spirit; a soul; a shade; also, an apparition. See Spright. [OE. sprit, F. esprit, fr. L. spiritus. See Spirit, and cf. Sprightly.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Mr. Wrench at the English Opera House 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 Mr. Wrench at the English Opera House, in Poems (1827–1845), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56712, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hood-poems/to-mr-wrench-at-the-english-opera-house.html, id L06909.
Form and metre
To Mr. Wrench at the English Opera House is 54 lines in 9 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 7 of its 9 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.4 syllables. 24% 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 AABCCB wrenchA · benchA · placeB · boardsC · affordsC · faceB
- 2 AABCCB rejoiceA · voiceA · slipsB · ownsC · tonesC · lipsB
- 3 AAB--B glanceA · askanceA · glareB · knees · congés · airB
- 4 AAB--B faceA · traceA · whimB · store · o'er · brimB
- 5 AABCCB wightA · spiteA · careB · strifeC · lifeC · wearB
- 6 AABCCB illsA · billsA · teaseB · sighsC · eyesC · fleasB
- 7 AABCCB schoolA · foolA · maskB · sportC · courtC · taskB
- 8 AABCCB himA · whimA · guestB · pelfC · selfC · westB
- 9 AABCCB stageA · pageA · playB · spriteC · nightC · dayB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oh very pleasant Mr. Wrench,-- | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| The first, upon the pit’s first bench, | 8 | ········ |
| I’ve scrambled to my place, | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| To hail thee on these summer boards | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With joy, even critic-craft affords, | 8 | ··//˘·˘/ |
| And watch thy welcome face! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Ere thou art come, how I rejoice | 8 | ······˘/ |
| To hear thy free and easy voice, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Lounging about the slips; | 6 | /˘···· |
| And then thy figure comes and owns | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The voice as careless as the tones | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That saunter from thy lips. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Oh come and cast a quiet glance, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To glad a nameless friend, askance | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The lamps’ ascending glare; | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Better it is than bended knees, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Heart-squeezing, and profound congés-- | 7 | ·/˘·˘/· |
| That old familiar air. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Even in the street, in that apt face, | 8 | /······· |
| Full of gay gravity, I trace | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| The soul of native whim; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A constant, never-failing store | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Of quiet mirth, that ne’er runs o’er, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But aye is near the brim. | 6 | ······ |
| Quoth I, “There goes a happy wight, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Inimical to spleen and spite, | 8 | ˘/˘˘···· |
| And careless of all care; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Who oils the ruffled waves of strife, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And makes the work-day suit of life | 8 | ········ |
| Of very easy wear. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Lord! if he had some people’s ills | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To cope--their hungry bonds and bills, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| How faintly they would tease; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Things that have cost both tears and sighs-- | 8 | ········ |
| Their foes, as motelings in his eyes-- | 9 | ········· |
| Their duns, his summer fleas! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The stage, I guess, is not thy school-- | 8 | ········ |
| Thou dost not antic like the fool | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That wept behind his mask; | 6 | ······ |
| Thy playing is thy play--a sport-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A revel, as perform’d at Court, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| And not a trade--a task! | 6 | ······ |
| Gay Freeman, art thou hired for him? | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| No--‘tis thy humour and thy whim | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To be that easy guest; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Whereas whoever plays for pelf, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| (Like Bennett) only gives him-self, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Or her--like Mrs. West! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Nay, thou--to look beyond the stage, | 8 | ········ |
| Thy life is but another page | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Continued of the play; | 7 | ˘/˘˘··· |
| The same companionable sprite-- | 8 | ··˘/˘˘˘· |
| Thy whim and pleasantry by night | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Are with thee in the day! | 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.