An Unpublished Poem, from Sydney
"Vell! Here I am--no Matter how it suitsA-keeping Company vith them dumb Brutes;Old Park vos no bad Judge--confound his vig!Of vot vood break the Sperrit of a Prig!
"The Like of Me, to come to New Sow WalesTo go a-tagging arter Vethers' TailsAnd valk in Herbage as delights the Flock,But stinks of Sweet Herbs vorser nor the Dock!
"To go to set this solitary JobTo Von whose Vork vos alvay in a Mob!It's out of all our Lines, for sure I amJack Shepherd even never kep a Lamb!
"I arn't ashamed to say I sit and veepTo think of Seven Year of keepin Sheep,The spooniest Beast in Nater, all to Sticks,And not a Votch to take for all their Ticks!
"If I'd fore-seed how Transports vould turn outTo only Baa! and Botanize about,I'd quite as leaf have had the t'other Pull,And come to Cotton, as to all this Vool!
"Von only happy moment I have hadSince here I come to be a Farmer's Cad,And then I cotch'd a vild Beast in a Snooze,And pick'd her pouch of three young Kangaroos!
"Vot chance haye I to go to Race or Mill?Or show a sneaking Kindness for a Till;And as for Vashings, on a hedge to dry,I'd put the Natives' Linen in my Eye!
"If this whole Lot of Mutton I could scrag,And find a Fence to turn it into Swag,I'd give it all in London Streets to stand,And if I had my pick, I'd say the Strand!
"But ven I goes, as maybe vonce I shall,To my old Crib to meet with Jack, and Sal,I've been so gallows honest in this Place,I shan't not like to show my sheepish Face.
"It's wery hard for nothing but a BoxOf Irish Blackguard to be keepin' Flocks,'Mong naked Blacks, sich Savages to hus,They've nayther got a Pocket nor a Pus.
"But folks may tell their Troubles till they're sickTo dumb brute Beasts,--and so I'll cut my Stick!And vot's the Use a Feller's Eyes to pipeVere von can't borrow any Gemman's Vipe?"
Words in this poem
- vell n.
- The salted stomach of a calf, used in making cheese; a rennet bag. [Cf. L. vellus the skin of a sheep with the wool on it, a fleece, a hide or pelt, or E. fell a hide.]
- prig v. i.
- To haggle about the price of a commodity; to bargain hard. [A modification of prick.]
- botanize v. i.
- To seek after plants for botanical investigation; to study plants. [Cf. F. botaniser.]
- snooze n.
- A short sleep; a nap. [Scot. snooze to sleep; cf. Dan. & Sw. snus snuff.]
- mutton n.
- A sheep. Chapman. [OE. motoun, OF. moton, molton, a sheep, wether, F. mouton, LL. multo, by transposition of l fr. L. mutilus mutilated. See Mutilate.]
- scrag n.
- Something thin, lean, or rough; a bony piece; especially, a bony neckpiece of meat; hence, humorously or in contempt, the neck. [Cf. dial. Sw. skraka a great dry tree, a long, lean man, Gael. sgreagach dry, shriveled, rocky. See Shrink, and cf. Scrog, Shrag, n.]
- swag v. i.
- To hang or move, as something loose and heavy; to sway; to swing. [Cf. Icel. sveggja, sveigja to bend, to sway, Norw. svaga to sway. See Sway.]
- maybe adv.
- Perhaps; possibly; peradventure. [For it may be.]
- 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,]
- sheepish a.
- Of or pertaining to sheep.
- blacks n.
- The name of a kind of in used in copperplate printing, prepared from the charred husks of the grape, and residue of the wine press.
- 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.]
- vere v. i.
- To change direction; to turn; to shift; as, wind veers to the west or north. [F. virer (cf. Sp. virar, birar), LL. virare; perhaps fr. L. vibrare to brandish, vibrate (cf. Vibrate); or cf. L. viriae armlets, bracelets, viriola a little br]
- borrow v. t.
- To receive from another as a loan, with the implied or expressed intention of returning the identical article or its equivalent in kind; -- the opposite of lend. [OE. borwen, AS. borgian, fr. borg, borh, pledge; akin to D. borg, G. borg; prob. fr. root of AS. beorgan to protect. Borough.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
An Unpublished Poem, from Sydney 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, An Unpublished Poem, from Sydney, 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/an-unpublished-poem-from-sydney.html, id L20184.
Form and metre
An Unpublished Poem, from Sydney is 44 lines in 11 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 8 of its 11 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 --AA suits · brutes · vigA · prigA
- 2 AABB walesA · tailsA · flockB · dockB
- 3 AABB jobA · mobA · amB · lambB
- 4 AABB veepA · sheepA · sticksB · ticksB
- 5 AA-- outA · aboutA · pull · vool
- 6 AABB hadA · cadA · snoozeB · kangaroosB
- 7 AABB millA · tillA · dryB · eyeB
- 8 AABB scragA · swagA · standB · strandB
- 9 AABB shallA · salA · placeB · faceB
- 10 AA-- boxA · flocksA · hus · pus
- 11 AABB sickA · stickA · pipeB · vipeB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Vell! Here I am--no Matter how it suits | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A-keeping Company vith them dumb Brutes; | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| Old Park vos no bad Judge--confound his vig! | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Of vot vood break the Sperrit of a Prig! | 10 | ·········· |
| "The Like of Me, to come to New Sow Wales | 10 | ·········· |
| To go a-tagging arter Vethers' Tails | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And valk in Herbage as delights the Flock, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| But stinks of Sweet Herbs vorser nor the Dock! | 10 | ·········· |
| "To go to set this solitary Job | 10 | ·····/˘·˘· |
| To Von whose Vork vos alvay in a Mob! | 10 | ·········· |
| It's out of all our Lines, for sure I am | 10 | ····/····· |
| Jack Shepherd even never kep a Lamb! | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| "I arn't ashamed to say I sit and veep | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| To think of Seven Year of keepin Sheep, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The spooniest Beast in Nater, all to Sticks, | 10 | ·········· |
| And not a Votch to take for all their Ticks! | 10 | ·········· |
| "If I'd fore-seed how Transports vould turn out | 10 | ·····˘/··· |
| To only Baa! and Botanize about, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| I'd quite as leaf have had the t'other Pull, | 11 | ·······˘/˘· |
| And come to Cotton, as to all this Vool! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| "Von only happy moment I have had | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Since here I come to be a Farmer's Cad, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And then I cotch'd a vild Beast in a Snooze, | 10 | ·········· |
| And pick'd her pouch of three young Kangaroos! | 10 | ········˘/ |
| "Vot chance haye I to go to Race or Mill? | 10 | ·········· |
| Or show a sneaking Kindness for a Till; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And as for Vashings, on a hedge to dry, | 10 | ·········· |
| I'd put the Natives' Linen in my Eye! | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| "If this whole Lot of Mutton I could scrag, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And find a Fence to turn it into Swag, | 10 | ·········· |
| I'd give it all in London Streets to stand, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And if I had my pick, I'd say the Strand! | 10 | ·········· |
| "But ven I goes, as maybe vonce I shall, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To my old Crib to meet with Jack, and Sal, | 10 | ·········· |
| I've been so gallows honest in this Place, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| I shan't not like to show my sheepish Face. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| "It's wery hard for nothing but a Box | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Of Irish Blackguard to be keepin' Flocks, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| 'Mong naked Blacks, sich Savages to hus, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| They've nayther got a Pocket nor a Pus. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| "But folks may tell their Troubles till they're sick | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To dumb brute Beasts,--and so I'll cut my Stick! | 10 | ·········· |
| And vot's the Use a Feller's Eyes to pipe | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Vere von can't borrow any Gemman's Vipe?" | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
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.