IV. A Serenade
"Lullaby, oh, lullaby!"Thus I heard a father cry,"Lullaby, oh, lullaby!"The brat will never shut an eye;Hither come, some power divine!Close his lids, or open mine!
"Lullaby, oh, lullaby!What the devil makes him cry?Lullaby, oh, lullaby!Still he stares--I wonder why,Why are not the sons of earthBlind, like puppies, from the birth?"
"Lullaby, oh, lullaby!"Thus I heard the father cry;"Lullaby, oh, lullaby!Mary, you must come and try!--Hush, oh, hush, for mercy's sake--The more I sing, the more you wake!"
"Lullaby, oh, lullaby!Fie, you little creature, fie!Lullaby, oh, lullaby!Is no poppy-syrup nigh?Give him some, or give him all,I am nodding to his fall!"
"Lullaby, oh, lullaby!Two such nights, and I shall die!Lullaby, oh, lullaby!He'll be bruised, and so shall I,--""How can I from bedposts keep,When I'm walking in my sleep?"
"Lullaby, oh, lullaby!Sleep his very looks deny--Lullaby, oh, lullaby;Nature soon will stupefy--My nerves relax,--my eyes grow dim--Who's that fallen--me or him?"
Words in this poem
- lullaby n.
- A song to quiet babes or lull them to sleep; that which quiets. [From Lull, v. t.]
- brat n.
- A coarse garnment or cloak; also, coarse clothing, in general. [OE. bratt coarse garnment, AS. bratt cloak, fr. the Celtic; cf. W. brat clout, rag, Gael. brat cloak, apron, raf, Ir. brat cloak; properly then, a child's bib o]
- syrup n.
- A thick and viscid liquid made from the juice of fruits, herbs, etc., boiled with sugar. [F. sirop (cf. It. siroppo, Sp. jarabe, jarope, LL. siruppus, syrupus), fr. Ar. sharab a drink, wine, coffee, sirup. Cf. Sherbet.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
IV. A Serenade 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, IV. A Serenade, 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/iv-a-serenade.html, id L20181.
Form and metre
IV. A Serenade is 36 lines in 6 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AAAABB, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 AAAABB lullabyA · cryA · lullabyA · eyeA · divineB · mineB
- 2 AAAABB lullabyA · cryA · lullabyA · whyA · earthB · birthB
- 3 AAAABB lullabyA · cryA · lullabyA · tryA · sakeB · wakeB
- 4 A-AABB lullabyA · fie · lullabyA · nighA · allB · fallB
- 5 AAAABB lullabyA · dieA · lullabyA · iA · keepB · sleepB
- 6 AAAABB lullabyA · denyA · lullabyA · stupefyA · dimB · himB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| "Lullaby, oh, lullaby!" | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Thus I heard a father cry, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| "Lullaby, oh, lullaby!" | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| The brat will never shut an eye; | 7 | ···/··· |
| Hither come, some power divine! | 7 | /˘··/˘/ |
| Close his lids, or open mine! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| "Lullaby, oh, lullaby! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| What the devil makes him cry? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Lullaby, oh, lullaby! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Still he stares--I wonder why, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Why are not the sons of earth | 7 | ······· |
| Blind, like puppies, from the birth?" | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| "Lullaby, oh, lullaby!" | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Thus I heard the father cry; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| "Lullaby, oh, lullaby! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Mary, you must come and try!-- | 7 | /˘····· |
| Hush, oh, hush, for mercy's sake-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| The more I sing, the more you wake!" | 8 | ········ |
| "Lullaby, oh, lullaby! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Fie, you little creature, fie! | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Lullaby, oh, lullaby! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Is no poppy-syrup nigh? | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Give him some, or give him all, | 7 | ······· |
| I am nodding to his fall!" | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| "Lullaby, oh, lullaby! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Two such nights, and I shall die! | 7 | ······· |
| Lullaby, oh, lullaby! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| He'll be bruised, and so shall I,--" | 7 | ······· |
| "How can I from bedposts keep, | 7 | ······· |
| When I'm walking in my sleep?" | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| "Lullaby, oh, lullaby! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Sleep his very looks deny-- | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Lullaby, oh, lullaby; | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Nature soon will stupefy-- | 7 | /˘··/˘˘ |
| My nerves relax,--my eyes grow dim-- | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Who's that fallen--me or him?" | 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.