"As It Fell upon a Day"
Oh! what's befallen Bessy Brown,She stands so squalling in the street;She's let her pitcher tumble down,And all the water's at her feet!
The little school-boys stood about,And laugh'd to see her pumping, pumping;Now with a curtsey to the spout,And then upon her tiptoes jumping.
Long time she waited for her neighbors,To have their turns:--but she must loseThe watery wages of her labors,--Except a little in her shoes!
Without a voice to tell her tale,And ugly transport in her face;All like a jugless nightingale,She thinks of her bereaved case.
At last she sobs--she cries--she screams!And pours her flood of sorrows out,From eyes and mouth, in mingled streams,Just like the lion on the spout.
For well poor Bessy knows her motherMust lose her tea, for water's lack,That Sukey burns--and baby-brotherMust be dryrubb'd with huck-a-back!
About this text
"As It Fell upon a Day" 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, "As It Fell upon a Day", 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/as-it-fell-upon-a-day.html, id L20132.
Form and metre
"As It Fell upon a Day" is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 ABAB brownA · streetB · downA · feetB
- 2 ABAB aboutA · pumpingB · spoutA · jumpingB
- 3 ABAB neighborsA · loseB · laborsA · shoesB
- 4 ABAB taleA · faceB · nightingaleA · caseB
- 5 ABAB screamsA · outB · streamsA · spoutB
- 6 ABAB motherA · lackB · brotherA · backB
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! what's befallen Bessy Brown, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| She stands so squalling in the street; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| She's let her pitcher tumble down, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And all the water's at her feet! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The little school-boys stood about, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And laugh'd to see her pumping, pumping; | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Now with a curtsey to the spout, | 8 | ········ |
| And then upon her tiptoes jumping. | 9 | ·····/·/˘ |
| Long time she waited for her neighbors, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| To have their turns:--but she must lose | 8 | ········ |
| The watery wages of her labors,-- | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Except a little in her shoes! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Without a voice to tell her tale, | 8 | ········ |
| And ugly transport in her face; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| All like a jugless nightingale, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| She thinks of her bereaved case. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| At last she sobs--she cries--she screams! | 8 | ········ |
| And pours her flood of sorrows out, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| From eyes and mouth, in mingled streams, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Just like the lion on the spout. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| For well poor Bessy knows her mother | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Must lose her tea, for water's lack, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That Sukey burns--and baby-brother | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Must be dryrubb'd with huck-a-back! | 8 | ········ |
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.