Death's Ramble
One day the dreary old King of DeathInclined for some sport with the carnal,So he tied a pack of darts on his back,And quietly stole from his charnel.
His head was bald of flesh and of hair,His body was lean and lank,His joints at each stir made a crack, and the curTook a gnaw, by the way, at his shank.
And what did he do with his deadly darts,This goblin of grisly bone?He dabbled and spill'd man's blood, and he kill'dLike a butcher that kills his own.
The first he slaughter'd, it made him laugh,(For the man was a coffin-maker,)To think how the mutes, and men in black suits,Would mourn for an undertaker.
Death saw two Quakers sitting at church,Quoth he, "We shall not differ."And he let them alone, like figures of stone,For he could not make them stiffer.
He saw two duellists going to fight,In fear they could not smother;And he shot one through at once--for he knewThey never would shoot each other.
He saw a watchman fast in his box,And he gave a snore infernal;Said Death, "He may keep his breath, for his sleepCan never be more eternal."
He met a coachman driving his coachSo slow, that his fare grew sick;But he let him stray on his tedious way,For Death only wars on the quick.
Death saw a toll-man taking a toll,In the spirit of his fraternity;But he knew that sort of man would extort,Though summon'd to all eternity.
He found an author writing his life,But he let him write no further;For Death, who strikes whenever he likes,Is jealous of all self-murther!
Death saw a patient that pull'd out his purse,And a doctor that took the sum;But he let them be--for he knew that the "fee"Was a prelude to "faw" and "fum."
He met a dustman ringing a bell,And he gave him a mortal thrust;For himself, by law, since Adam's flaw,Is contractor for all our dust.
He saw a sailor mixing his grog,And he marked him out for slaughter;For on water he scarcely had cared for Death,And never on rum-and-water.
Death saw two players playing at cards,But the game wasn't worth a dump,For he quickly laid them flat with a spade,To wait for the final trump!
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.]
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- undertaker n.
- One who undertakes; one who engages in any project or business.
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- 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,]
- watchman n.
- One set to watch; a person who keeps guard; a guard; a sentinel.
- snore v. i.
- To breathe with a rough, hoarse, nasal voice in sleep. [OE. snoren, AS. snora a snoring; akin to LG. snoren, snorken, snurken, to snore, D. snorken, G. schnarchen to snore, schnarren to rattle, MHG. snarren, Sw. snar]
- coachman n.
- A man whose business is to drive a coach or carriage.
- murther n.
- Murder, n. & v.
- dustman
- One whose employment is to remove dirt and defuse. Gay.
- grog n.
- A mixture of spirit and water not sweetened; hence, any intoxicating liquor. Grog blossom, a redness on the nose or face of persons who drink ardent spirits to excess. [Collog.] [So named fronm "Old Grog" a nickmname given to Admiral Vernon, in allusion to his wearing a grogram cloak in foul weather. He is said to have been the first to ]
- dump n.
- A thick, ill-shapen piece; a clumsy leaden counter used by boys in playing chuck farthing. [Eng.] Smart. [See Dumpling.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Death's Ramble 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, Death's Ramble, 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/death-s-ramble.html, id L20140.
Form and metre
Death's Ramble is 56 lines in 14 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%).
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 -A-A death · carnalA · back · charnelA
- 2 -A-A hair · lankA · cur · shankA
- 3 -A-A darts · boneA · kill'd · ownA
- 4 -A-A laugh · makerA · suits · undertakerA
- 5 -A-A church · differA · stone · stifferA
- 6 -A-A fight · smotherA · knew · otherA
- 7 -A-A box · infernalA · sleep · eternalA
- 8 -A-A coach · sickA · way · quickA
- 9 -A-A toll · fraternityA · extort · eternityA
- 10 -A-A life · furtherA · likes · murtherA
- 12 -A-A bell · thrustA · flaw · dustA
- 13 -A-A grog · slaughterA · death · waterA
- 14 -A-A cards · dumpA · spade · trumpA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| One day the dreary old King of Death | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Inclined for some sport with the carnal, | 10 | ˘/˘·····/˘ |
| So he tied a pack of darts on his back, | 10 | ·········· |
| And quietly stole from his charnel. | 9 | ·/˘˘···/˘ |
| His head was bald of flesh and of hair, | 9 | ········· |
| His body was lean and lank, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| His joints at each stir made a crack, and the cur | 11 | ··········· |
| Took a gnaw, by the way, at his shank. | 9 | ········· |
| And what did he do with his deadly darts, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| This goblin of grisly bone? | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| He dabbled and spill'd man's blood, and he kill'd | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Like a butcher that kills his own. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| The first he slaughter'd, it made him laugh, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| (For the man was a coffin-maker,) | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| To think how the mutes, and men in black suits, | 10 | ·········· |
| Would mourn for an undertaker. | 8 | ····/˘·˘ |
| Death saw two Quakers sitting at church, | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| Quoth he, "We shall not differ." | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And he let them alone, like figures of stone, | 11 | ····˘/·/˘·· |
| For he could not make them stiffer. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| He saw two duellists going to fight, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| In fear they could not smother; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And he shot one through at once--for he knew | 10 | ·········· |
| They never would shoot each other. | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| He saw a watchman fast in his box, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And he gave a snore infernal; | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Said Death, "He may keep his breath, for his sleep | 10 | ·········· |
| Can never be more eternal." | 8 | ·/˘··˘/˘ |
| He met a coachman driving his coach | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| So slow, that his fare grew sick; | 7 | ······· |
| But he let him stray on his tedious way, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| For Death only wars on the quick. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Death saw a toll-man taking a toll, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| In the spirit of his fraternity; | 10 | ··/˘··˘/˘˘ |
| But he knew that sort of man would extort, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Though summon'd to all eternity. | 9 | ·/˘··˘/˘˘ |
| He found an author writing his life, | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| But he let him write no further; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| For Death, who strikes whenever he likes, | 9 | ····˘/˘·· |
| Is jealous of all self-murther! | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| Death saw a patient that pull'd out his purse, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And a doctor that took the sum; | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| But he let them be--for he knew that the "fee" | 11 | ··········· |
| Was a prelude to "faw" and "fum." | 8 | ··/····· |
| He met a dustman ringing a bell, | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| And he gave him a mortal thrust; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For himself, by law, since Adam's flaw, | 9 | ·˘/···/˘· |
| Is contractor for all our dust. | 9 | ·/·˘··/˘· |
| He saw a sailor mixing his grog, | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| And he marked him out for slaughter; | 9 | ···˘···/˘ |
| For on water he scarcely had cared for Death, | 11 | ··/˘·/˘···· |
| And never on rum-and-water. | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| Death saw two players playing at cards, | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| But the game wasn't worth a dump, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| For he quickly laid them flat with a spade, | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| To wait for the final trump! | 7 | ····/˘· |
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.