The Lay of the Laborer
A spade! a rake! a hoe!A pickaxe, or a bill!A hook to reap, or a scythe to mow,A flail, or what ye will--And here's a ready handTo ply the needful tool,And skill'd enough, by lessons rough,In Labor's rugged school.
To hedge, or dig the ditch,To lop or fell the tree,To lay the swarth on the sultry field,Or plough the stubborn lea;The harvest stack to bind,The wheaten rick to thatch,And never fear in my pouch to findThe tinder or the match.
To a flaming barn or farmMy fancies never roam;The fire I yearn to kindle and burnIs on the hearth of Home;Where children huddle and crouchThrough dark long winter days,Where starving children huddle and crouch,To see the cheerful rays,A-glowing on the haggard cheek,And not in the haggard's blaze!
To Him who sends a droughtTo parch the fields forlorn,The rain to flood the meadows with mud,The blight to blast the corn,To Him I leave to guideThe bolt in its crooked path,To strike the miser's rick, and showThe skies blood-red with wrath.
A spade! a rake! a hoe!A pickaxe, or a bill!A hook to reap, or a scythe to mow,A flail, or what ye will--The corn to thrash, or the hedge to plash,The market-team to drive,Or mend the fence by the cover side,And leave the game alive.
Ay, only give me work,And then you need not fearThat I shall snare his Worship's hare,Or kill his Grace's deer;Break into his lordship's house,To steal the plate so rich;Or leave the yeoman that had a purseTo welter in a ditch.
Wherever Nature needs,Wherever Labor calls,No job I'll shirk of the hardest work,To shun the workhouse walls;Where savage laws begrudgeThe pauper babe its breath,And doom a wife to a widow's life,Before her partner's death.
My only claim is this,With labor stiff and stark,By lawful turn, my living to earn,Between the light and dark;My daily bread, and nightly bed,My bacon, and drop of beer--But all from the hand that holds the land,And none from the overseer!
No parish money, or loaf,No pauper badges for me,A son of the soil, by right of toilEntitled to my fee.No alms I ask, give me my task:Here are the arm, the leg,The strength, the sinews of a Man,To work, and not to beg.
Still one of Adam's heirs,Though doom'd by chance of birthTo dress so mean, and to eat the leanInstead of the fat of the earth;To make such humble mealsAs honest labor can,A bone and a crust, with a grace to God,And little thanks to man!
A spade! a rake! a hoe!A pickaxe, or a bill!A hook to reap, or a scythe to mow,A flail, or what ye will--Whatever the tool to ply,Here is a willing drudge,With muscle and limb, and woe to himWho does their pay begrudge!
Who every weekly scoreDocks labor's little mite,Bestows on the poor at the temple door,But robb'd them over night.The very shilling he hoped to save,As health and morals fail,Shall visit me in the new Bastille,The Spital, or the Gaol!
Words in this poem 20
- reap n.
- A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. Wright. [Cf. AS. rip harvest. See Reap, v.]
- needful a.
- Full of need; in need or want; needy; distressing.
- swarth a.
- Swart; swarthy.
- wheaten a.
- Made of wheat; as, wheaten bread. [AS. hwæten.]
- yearn v. t.
- To pain; to grieve; to vex. [Also earn, ern; probably a corruption of OE. ermen to grieve, AS. ierman, yrman, or geierman, geyrman, fr. earm wretched, poor; akin to D. & G. arm, Icel. armr,]
- huddle v. i.
- To press together promiscuously, from confusion, apprehension, or the like; to crowd together confusedly; to press or hurry in disorder; to crowd. [Cf. OE. hoderen, hodren, to cover, keep, warm; perh. akin to OE. huden, hiden, to hide, E. hide, and orig. meaning, to get together for protection in a safe pla]
- haggard a.
- Wild or intractable; disposed to break away from duty; untamed; as, a haggard or refractory hawk. Shak [F. hagard; of German origin, and prop. meaning, of the hegde or woods, wild, untamed. See Hedge, 1st Haw, and -ard.]
- parch v. t.
- To burn the surface of; to scorch; to roast over the fire, as dry grain; as, to parch the skin; to parch corn. [OE. perchen to pierce, hence used of a piercing heat or cold, OF. perchier, another form of percier, F. percer. See Pierce.]
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- 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,]
- welter v. i.
- To roll, as the body of an animal; to tumble about, especially in anything foul or defiling; to wallow. [Freq. of OE. walten to roll over, AS. wealtan; akin to LG. weltern, G. walzen to roll, to waltz, sich wälzen to welter, OHG. walzan to roll, Icel. velta, Dan. v]
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- workhouse n.
- A house where any manufacture is carried on; a workshop. [AS. weorch.]
- begrudge v. t.
- To grudge; to envy the possession of.
- pauper n.
- A poor person; especially, one development on private or public charity. Also used adjectively; as, pouper immigrants, pouper labor. [L. See Poor.]
- babe n.
- An infant; a young child of either sex; a baby. [Cf. Ir. bab, baban, W. baban, maban.]
- stark adv.
- Wholly; entirely; absolutely; quite; as, stark mind.
- nightly a.
- Of or pertaining to the night, or to every night; happening or done by night, or every night; as, nightly shades; he kept nightly vigils.
- bastille n.
- A tower or an elevated work, used for the defense, or in the siege, of a fortified place. [F. bastille fortress, OF. bastir to build, F. b.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Lay of the Laborer 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, The Lay of the Laborer, 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/the-lay-of-the-laborer.html, id L20119.
Form and metre
The Lay of the Laborer is 98 lines in 12 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 ABAB-C-C hoeA · billB · mowA · willB · hand · toolC · rough · schoolC
- 2 -A-ABCBC ditch · treeA · field · leaA · bindB · thatchC · findB · matchC
- 3 -A-ABCBC-C farm · roamA · burn · homeA · crouchB · daysC · crouchB · raysC · cheek · blazeC
- 4 -A-A-B-B drought · forlornA · mud · cornA · guide · pathB · show · wrathB
- 5 ABAB-C-C hoeA · billB · mowA · willB · plash · driveC · side · aliveC
- 6 -AAA-B-B work · fearA · hareA · deerA · house · richB · purse · ditchB
- 7 -A-A-B-B needs · callsA · work · wallsA · begrudge · breathB · life · deathB
- 8 -A-A---- this · starkA · earn · darkA · bed · beer · land · overseer
- 9 -A-A-B-B loaf · meA · toil · feeA · task · legB · man · begB
- 10 -A-A-B-B heirs · birthA · lean · earthA · meals · canB · god · manB
- 11 ABAB-C-C hoeA · billB · mowA · willB · ply · drudgeC · him · begrudgeC
- 12 ABAB-CC- scoreA · miteB · doorA · nightB · save · failC · bastilleC · gaol
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A spade! a rake! a hoe! | 6 | ······ |
| A pickaxe, or a bill! | 6 | ······ |
| A hook to reap, or a scythe to mow, | 9 | ········· |
| A flail, or what ye will-- | 6 | ······ |
| And here's a ready hand | 6 | ···/˘· |
| To ply the needful tool, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And skill'd enough, by lessons rough, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| In Labor's rugged school. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| To hedge, or dig the ditch, | 6 | ······ |
| To lop or fell the tree, | 6 | ······ |
| To lay the swarth on the sultry field, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Or plough the stubborn lea; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The harvest stack to bind, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The wheaten rick to thatch, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And never fear in my pouch to find | 8 | ·/······ |
| The tinder or the match. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| To a flaming barn or farm | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| My fancies never roam; | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| The fire I yearn to kindle and burn | 9 | ·/···/˘·· |
| Is on the hearth of Home; | 6 | ······ |
| Where children huddle and crouch | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| Through dark long winter days, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Where starving children huddle and crouch, | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘·· |
| To see the cheerful rays, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A-glowing on the haggard cheek, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And not in the haggard's blaze! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| To Him who sends a drought | 6 | ······ |
| To parch the fields forlorn, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The rain to flood the meadows with mud, | 9 | ·····/··· |
| The blight to blast the corn, | 6 | ······ |
| To Him I leave to guide | 6 | ······ |
| The bolt in its crooked path, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| To strike the miser's rick, and show | 7 | ···/··· |
| The skies blood-red with wrath. | 6 | ······ |
| A spade! a rake! a hoe! | 6 | ······ |
| A pickaxe, or a bill! | 6 | ······ |
| A hook to reap, or a scythe to mow, | 9 | ········· |
| A flail, or what ye will-- | 6 | ······ |
| The corn to thrash, or the hedge to plash, | 9 | ········· |
| The market-team to drive, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Or mend the fence by the cover side, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And leave the game alive. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Ay, only give me work, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And then you need not fear | 6 | ······ |
| That I shall snare his Worship's hare, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or kill his Grace's deer; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Break into his lordship's house, | 7 | ······· |
| To steal the plate so rich; | 6 | ······ |
| Or leave the yeoman that had a purse | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| To welter in a ditch. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Wherever Nature needs, | 6 | ˘/˘/˘· |
| Wherever Labor calls, | 6 | ˘/˘/˘· |
| No job I'll shirk of the hardest work, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| To shun the workhouse walls; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Where savage laws begrudge | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| The pauper babe its breath, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And doom a wife to a widow's life, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Before her partner's death. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| My only claim is this, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| With labor stiff and stark, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| By lawful turn, my living to earn, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| Between the light and dark; | 6 | ······ |
| My daily bread, and nightly bed, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| My bacon, and drop of beer-- | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| But all from the hand that holds the land, | 9 | ········· |
| And none from the overseer! | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| No parish money, or loaf, | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| No pauper badges for me, | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| A son of the soil, by right of toil | 9 | ········· |
| Entitled to my fee. | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| No alms I ask, give me my task: | 8 | ········ |
| Here are the arm, the leg, | 6 | ······ |
| The strength, the sinews of a Man, | 8 | ········ |
| To work, and not to beg. | 6 | ······ |
| Still one of Adam's heirs, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Though doom'd by chance of birth | 6 | ······ |
| To dress so mean, and to eat the lean | 9 | ········· |
| Instead of the fat of the earth; | 8 | ˘/······ |
| To make such humble meals | 6 | ···/˘· |
| As honest labor can, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| A bone and a crust, with a grace to God, | 10 | ·········· |
| And little thanks to man! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| A spade! a rake! a hoe! | 6 | ······ |
| A pickaxe, or a bill! | 6 | ······ |
| A hook to reap, or a scythe to mow, | 9 | ········· |
| A flail, or what ye will-- | 6 | ······ |
| Whatever the tool to ply, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Here is a willing drudge, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| With muscle and limb, and woe to him | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Who does their pay begrudge! | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Who every weekly score | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Docks labor's little mite, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Bestows on the poor at the temple door, | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| But robb'd them over night. | 6 | ······ |
| The very shilling he hoped to save, | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| As health and morals fail, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Shall visit me in the new Bastille, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| The Spital, or the Gaol! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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