The New Mistress
"Oh, sick I am to see you, will you never let me be?You may be good for something, but you are not good for me.Oh, go where you are wanted, for you are not wanted here."And that was all the farewell when I parted from my dear.
"I will go where I am wanted, to a lady born and bredWho will dress me free for nothing in a uniform of red;She will not be sick to see me if I only keep it clean:I will go where I am wanted for a soldier of the Queen."
"I will go where I am wanted, for the sergeant does not mind;He may be sick to see me but he treats me very kind:He gives me beer and breakfast and a ribbon for my cap,And I never knew a sweetheart spend her money on a chap."
"I will go where I am wanted, where there's room for one or two,And the men are none too many for the work there is to do;Where the standing line wears thinner and the dropping dead lie thick;And the enemies of England they shall see me and be sick."
Words in this poem
- 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
The New Mistress is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Shropshire Lad, Project Gutenberg ebook #5720; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: A. E. Housman, The New Mistress, in A Shropshire Lad (1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5720, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/housman-shropshire-lad/the-new-mistress.html, id L04430.
Form and metre
The New Mistress is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 14.4 syllables. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic heptameter.
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 AABB beA · meA · hereB · dearB
- 2 AABB bredA · redA · cleanB · queenB
- 3 AABB mindA · kindA · capB · chapB
- 4 AABB twoA · doA · thickB · sickB
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 heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| "Oh, sick I am to see you, will you never let me be? | 13 | ·········/··· |
| You may be good for something, but you are not good for me. | 14 | ·····/˘······· |
| Oh, go where you are wanted, for you are not wanted here." | 14 | ·····/˘····/˘· |
| And that was all the farewell when I parted from my dear. | 14 | ······/··/˘··· |
| "I will go where I am wanted, to a lady born and bred | 15 | ······/˘··/˘··· |
| Who will dress me free for nothing in a uniform of red; | 15 | ······/˘··/˘··· |
| She will not be sick to see me if I only keep it clean: | 15 | ··········/˘··· |
| I will go where I am wanted for a soldier of the Queen." | 15 | ······/˘··/˘··· |
| "I will go where I am wanted, for the sergeant does not mind; | 15 | ······/˘··/˘··· |
| He may be sick to see me but he treats me very kind: | 14 | ···········/˘· |
| He gives me beer and breakfast and a ribbon for my cap, | 14 | ·····/˘··/˘··· |
| And I never knew a sweetheart spend her money on a chap." | 14 | ··/··/···/˘··· |
| "I will go where I am wanted, where there's room for one or two, | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| And the men are none too many for the work there is to do; | 14 | ······/······· |
| Where the standing line wears thinner and the dropping dead lie thick; | 15 | ··/˘··/˘··/˘··· |
| And the enemies of England they shall see me and be sick." | 14 | ··/˘·/˘······· |
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.