Composed at Rotterdam
I gaze upon a city,--A city new and strange,--Down many a watery vistaMy fancy takes a range;From side to side I saunter,And wonder where I am;And can you be in England,And I at Rotterdam!
Before me lie dark watersIn broad canals and deep,Whereon the silver moonbeamsSleep, restless in their sleep;A sort of vulgar VeniceReminds me where I am;Yes, yes, you are in England,And I'm at Rotterdam.
Tall houses with quaint gables,Where frequent windows shine,And quays that lead to bridges,And trees in formal line,And masts of spicy vesselsFrom western Surinam,All tell me you're in England,But I'm in Rotterdam.
Those sailors, how outlandishThe face and form of each!They deal in foreign gestures,And use a foreign speech;A tongue not learn'd near Isis,Or studied by the Cam,Declares that you're in England,And I'm at Rotterdam.
And now across a marketMy doubtful way I trace,Where stands a solemn statue,The Genius of the place;And to the great ErasmusI offer my salaam;Who tells me you're in England,But I'm at Rotterdam.
The coffee-room is open--I mingle in its crowd,--The dominos are noisy--The hookahs raise a cloud;The flavor, none of Fearon's,That mingles with my dram,Reminds me you're in England,And I'm at Rotterdam.
Then here it goes, a bumper--The toast it shall be mine,In schiedam, or in sherry,Tokay, or hock of Rhine;It well deserves the brightest,Where sunbeam ever swam--"The Girl I love in England"I drink at Rotterdam!
Words in this poem
- vista n.
- A view; especially, a view through or between intervening objects, as trees; a view or prospect through an avenue, or the like; hence, the trees or other objects that form the avenue. [It., sight, view, fr. vedere, p. p. visto, veduto, to see, fr. L. videre, visum. See View, Vision.]
- whereon adv.
- On which; -- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
- quaint a.
- Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. [OE. queint, queynte, coint, prudent, wise, cunning, pretty, odd, OF. cointe cultivated, amiable, agreeable, neat, fr. L. cognitus known, p. p. of cognoscere to ]
- outlandish a.
- Foreign; not native. [AS. foreign. See Out, Land, and -ish.]
- isis n.
- The principal goddess worshiped by the Egyptians. She was regarded as the mother of Horus, and the sister and wife of Osiris.
- salaam v. i.
- To make or perform a salam.
- bumper n.
- A cup or glass filled to the brim, or till the liquor runs over, particularly in drinking a health or toast. [A corruption of bumbard, bombard, a large drinking vessel.]
- 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,]
- schiedam n.
- Holland gin made at Schiedam in the Netherlands. [Short for Schiedam schnapps.]
- tokay n.
- A grape of an oval shape and whitish color. [Named fr. Tokay in Hungary.]
- sunbeam n.
- A beam or ray of the sun. [AS. sunnebeam.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Composed at Rotterdam 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, Composed at Rotterdam, 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/composed-at-rotterdam.html, id L20095.
Form and metre
Composed at Rotterdam is 56 lines in 7 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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-B-B city · strangeA · vista · rangeA · saunter · amB · england · rotterdamB
- 2 -A-A-B-B waters · deepA · moonbeams · sleepA · venice · amB · england · rotterdamB
- 3 -A-A---- gables · shineA · bridges · lineA · vessels · surinam · england · rotterdam
- 4 -A-A-B-B outlandish · eachA · gestures · speechA · isis · camB · england · rotterdamB
- 5 -A-AA--- market · traceA · statue · placeA · erasmusA · salaam · england · rotterdam
- 6 -A-A-B-B open · crowdA · noisy · cloudA · fearon's · dramB · england · rotterdamB
- 7 -A-A-B-B bumper · mineA · sherry · rhineA · brightest · swamB · england · rotterdamB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I gaze upon a city,-- | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| A city new and strange,-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Down many a watery vista | 7 | ·/·/˘/˘ |
| My fancy takes a range; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| From side to side I saunter, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And wonder where I am; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And can you be in England, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And I at Rotterdam! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Before me lie dark waters | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| In broad canals and deep, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Whereon the silver moonbeams | 7 | ˘/·/˘/· |
| Sleep, restless in their sleep; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| A sort of vulgar Venice | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Reminds me where I am; | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Yes, yes, you are in England, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And I'm at Rotterdam. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Tall houses with quaint gables, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Where frequent windows shine, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And quays that lead to bridges, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And trees in formal line, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And masts of spicy vessels | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| From western Surinam, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| All tell me you're in England, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| But I'm in Rotterdam. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Those sailors, how outlandish | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| The face and form of each! | 6 | ······ |
| They deal in foreign gestures, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| And use a foreign speech; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A tongue not learn'd near Isis, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Or studied by the Cam, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Declares that you're in England, | 7 | ˘/···/˘ |
| And I'm at Rotterdam. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And now across a market | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| My doubtful way I trace, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Where stands a solemn statue, | 7 | ···/˘/· |
| The Genius of the place; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And to the great Erasmus | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| I offer my salaam; | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Who tells me you're in England, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| But I'm at Rotterdam. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The coffee-room is open-- | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| I mingle in its crowd,-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The dominos are noisy-- | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| The hookahs raise a cloud; | 6 | ······ |
| The flavor, none of Fearon's, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| That mingles with my dram, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Reminds me you're in England, | 7 | ˘/···/˘ |
| And I'm at Rotterdam. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Then here it goes, a bumper-- | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The toast it shall be mine, | 6 | ······ |
| In schiedam, or in sherry, | 7 | ·˘/··/˘ |
| Tokay, or hock of Rhine; | 6 | ˘/···· |
| It well deserves the brightest, | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| Where sunbeam ever swam-- | 6 | ·/·/˘· |
| "The Girl I love in England" | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| I drink at Rotterdam! | 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.