A Pathetic Ballad
'Twas twelve o'clock by Chelsea chimes,When all in hungry trim,Good Mister Jupp sat down to supWith wife, and Kate, and Jim.
Said he, "Upon this dainty codHow bravely I shall sup"--When, whiter than the tablecloth,A GHOST came rising up!
"O father dear, O mother dear,Dear Kate, and brother Jim--You know when some one went to sea--Don't cry--but I am him!"
"You hope some day with fond embraceTo greet your absent Jack,But oh, I am come here to sayI'm never coming back!"
"From Alexandria we set sail,With corn, and oil, and figs,But steering 'too much Sow,' we struckUpon the Sow and Pigs!"
"The ship we pumped till we could seeOld England from the tops;When down she went with all our hands,Right in the Channel's Chops."
"Just give a look in Norey's chart,The very place it tells;I think it says twelve fathom deep,Clay bottom, mixed with shells."
"Well, there we are till 'hands aloft,'We have at last a call;The pug I had for brother Jim,Kate's parrot too, and all."
"But oh, my spirit cannot restIn Davy Joneses sod,Till I've appeared to you and said--Don't sup on that 'ere Cod!"
"You live on land, and little thinkWhat passes in the sea;Last Sunday week, at 2 P.M.,That Cod was picking me!"
"Those oysters, too, that look so plump,And seem so nicely done,They put my corpse in many shells,Instead of only one."
"Oh, do not eat those oysters then,And do not touch the shrimps;When I was in my briny grave,They sucked my blood like imps!"
"Don't eat what brutes would never eat,The brutes I used to pat,They'll know the smell they used to smell,Just try the dog and cat!"
The spirit fled--they wept his fate,And cried, Alack, alack!At last up started brother Jim,"Let's try if Jack, was Jack!"
They called the Dog, they called the Cat,And little Kitten too,And down they put the Cod and sauce,To see what brutes would do.
Old Tray licked all the oysters up,Puss never stood at crimps,But munched the Cod--and little KitQuite feasted on the shrimps!
The thing was odd, and minus CodAnd sauce, they stood like posts;Oh, prudent folks, for fear of hoax,Put no belief in Ghosts!
Words in this poem
- mister n.
- A trade, art, or occupation. [OF. mistier trade, office, ministry, need, F. métier trade, fr. L. ministerium service, office, ministry. See Ministry, Mystery trade.]
- kate n.
- The brambling finch.
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
- bravely adv.
- In a brave manner; courageously; gallantly; valiantly; splendidly; nobly.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- tablecloth n.
- A cloth for covering a table, especially one with which a table is covered before the dishes, etc., are set on for meals.
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- chops n.
- The jaws; also, the fleshy parts about the mouth. [See Chop a jaw.]
- corpse n.
- A human body in general, whether living or dead; -- sometimes contemptuosly. [OF. cors (sometimes written corps), F. corps, L. corpus; akin to AS. hrif womb. See Midriff, and cf. Corse, Corselet, Corps, Cuerpo.]
- briny a.
- Of or pertaining to brine, or to the sea; partaking of the nature of brine; salt; as, a briny taste; the briny flood. [From Brine.]
- alack interj.
- An exclamation expressive of sorrow. [Prob. from ah! lack! OE. lak loss, failure, misfortune. See Lack.]
- puss n.
- A cat; -- a fondling appellation. [Cf. D. poes, Ir. & Gael. pus.]
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Pathetic Ballad is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood, Project Gutenberg ebook #15652; 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, A Pathetic Ballad, in The Song of the Shirt, and Other Poems (1826–1845), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15652, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hood-poetical-works/a-pathetic-ballad-3.html, id L20153.
Form and metre
A Pathetic Ballad is 68 lines in 17 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 chimes · trimA · sup · jimA
- 2 -A-A cod · supA · tablecloth · upA
- 3 -A-A dear · jimA · sea · himA
- 4 -A-A embrace · jackA · say · backA
- 5 -A-A sail · figsA · struck · pigsA
- 6 -A-A see · topsA · hands · chopsA
- 7 -A-A chart · tellsA · deep · shellsA
- 8 -A-A aloft · callA · jim · allA
- 9 -A-A rest · sodA · said · codA
- 10 -A-A think · seaA · — · meA
- 11 -A-A plump · doneA · shells · oneA
- 12 -A-A then · shrimpsA · grave · impsA
- 13 -A-A eat · patA · smell · catA
- 14 -A-A fate · alackA · jim · jackA
- 15 -A-A cat · tooA · sauce · doA
- 17 -A-A cod · postsA · hoax · ghostsA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| 'Twas twelve o'clock by Chelsea chimes, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| When all in hungry trim, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Good Mister Jupp sat down to sup | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With wife, and Kate, and Jim. | 6 | ······ |
| Said he, "Upon this dainty cod | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| How bravely I shall sup"-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| When, whiter than the tablecloth, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A GHOST came rising up! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| "O father dear, O mother dear, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Dear Kate, and brother Jim-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| You know when some one went to sea-- | 8 | ········ |
| Don't cry--but I am him!" | 6 | ······ |
| "You hope some day with fond embrace | 8 | ······˘/ |
| To greet your absent Jack, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But oh, I am come here to say | 8 | ········ |
| I'm never coming back!" | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| "From Alexandria we set sail, | 9 | ··˘/˘˘··· |
| With corn, and oil, and figs, | 6 | ······ |
| But steering 'too much Sow,' we struck | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Upon the Sow and Pigs!" | 6 | ······ |
| "The ship we pumped till we could see | 8 | ········ |
| Old England from the tops; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| When down she went with all our hands, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Right in the Channel's Chops." | 6 | ···/˘· |
| "Just give a look in Norey's chart, | 8 | ········ |
| The very place it tells; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I think it says twelve fathom deep, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Clay bottom, mixed with shells." | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| "Well, there we are till 'hands aloft,' | 8 | ······˘/ |
| We have at last a call; | 6 | ······ |
| The pug I had for brother Jim, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Kate's parrot too, and all." | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| "But oh, my spirit cannot rest | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| In Davy Joneses sod, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Till I've appeared to you and said-- | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Don't sup on that 'ere Cod!" | 6 | ······ |
| "You live on land, and little think | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| What passes in the sea; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Last Sunday week, at 2 P.M., | 7 | ·/····· |
| That Cod was picking me!" | 6 | ···/˘· |
| "Those oysters, too, that look so plump, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And seem so nicely done, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| They put my corpse in many shells, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Instead of only one." | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| "Oh, do not eat those oysters then, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And do not touch the shrimps; | 6 | ······ |
| When I was in my briny grave, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| They sucked my blood like imps!" | 6 | ······ |
| "Don't eat what brutes would never eat, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The brutes I used to pat, | 6 | ······ |
| They'll know the smell they used to smell, | 8 | ········ |
| Just try the dog and cat!" | 6 | ······ |
| The spirit fled--they wept his fate, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And cried, Alack, alack! | 6 | ··˘/˘/ |
| At last up started brother Jim, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| "Let's try if Jack, was Jack!" | 6 | ······ |
| They called the Dog, they called the Cat, | 8 | ········ |
| And little Kitten too, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And down they put the Cod and sauce, | 8 | ········ |
| To see what brutes would do. | 6 | ······ |
| Old Tray licked all the oysters up, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Puss never stood at crimps, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But munched the Cod--and little Kit | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Quite feasted on the shrimps! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The thing was odd, and minus Cod | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And sauce, they stood like posts; | 6 | ······ |
| Oh, prudent folks, for fear of hoax, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Put no belief in Ghosts! | 6 | ··˘/·· |
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