Ballad
Spring it is cheery,Winter is dreary,Green leaves hang, but the brown must fly;When he's forsaken,Wither'd and shaken,What can an old man do but die?
Love will not clip him,Maids will not lip him,Maud and Marian pass him by;Youth it is sunny,Age has no honey,--What can an old man do but die?
June it was jolly,Oh for its folly!A dancing leg and a laughing eye;Youth may be silly,Wisdom is chilly,--What can an old man do but die?
Friends, they are scanty,Beggars are plenty,If he has followers, I know why;Gold's in his clutches,(Buying him crutches!)What can an old man do but die?
Words in this poem
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
- maud n.
- A gray plaid; -- used by shepherds in Scotland.
- marian a.
- Pertaining to the Virgin Mary, or sometimes to Mary, Queen of England, daughter of Henry VIII.
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
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, 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/ballad-4.html, id L26118.
Form and metre
Ballad is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is dactylic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in dactylic dimeter.
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 cheeryA · drearyA · flyB · forsakenC · shakenC · dieB
- 2 AABCCB himA · himA · byB · sunnyC · honeyC · dieB
- 3 AABCCB jollyA · follyA · eyeB · sillyC · chillyC · dieB
- 4 --ABBA scanty · plenty · whyA · clutchesB · crutchesB · dieA
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 dactylic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Spring it is cheery, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Winter is dreary, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Green leaves hang, but the brown must fly; | 8 | ········ |
| When he's forsaken, | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Wither'd and shaken, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| What can an old man do but die? | 8 | ········ |
| Love will not clip him, | 5 | ····· |
| Maids will not lip him, | 5 | ····· |
| Maud and Marian pass him by; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Youth it is sunny, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Age has no honey,-- | 5 | ···/˘ |
| What can an old man do but die? | 8 | ········ |
| June it was jolly, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Oh for its folly! | 5 | ···/˘ |
| A dancing leg and a laughing eye; | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Youth may be silly, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Wisdom is chilly,-- | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| What can an old man do but die? | 8 | ········ |
| Friends, they are scanty, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Beggars are plenty, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| If he has followers, I know why; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Gold's in his clutches, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| (Buying him crutches!) | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| What can an old man do but die? | 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.