Pierrot
I work all day,Said Simple John,Myself a house to buy.I work all day,Said Simple John,But Pierrot wondered why.
For Pierrot loved the long white road,And Pierrot loved the moon,And Pierrot loved a star-filled sky,And the breath of a rose in June.
I have one wife,Said Simple John,And, faith, I love her yet.I have one wife,Said Simple John,But Pierrot left Pierrette.
For Pierrot saw a world of girls,And Pierrot loved each one,And Pierrot thought all maidens fairAs flowers in the sun.
Oh, I am good,Said Simple John,The Lord will take me in.Yes, I am good,Said Simple John,But Pierrot’s steeped in sin.
For Pierrot played on a slim guitar,And Pierrot loved the moon,And Pierrot ran down the long white roadWith the burgher’s wife one June.
Words in this poem
- wondered a.
- Having performed wonders; able to perform wonderful things.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Pierrot is in the public domain. This text is taken from The weary blues, Project Gutenberg ebook #74745; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Langston Hughes, Pierrot, in The Weary Blues (1926), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #74745, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hughes-weary-blues/pierrot.html, id L01522.
Form and metre
Pierrot is 30 lines in 6 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABCABC, complete in 3 of its 6 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in trochaic trimeter. 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.8 syllables. 7% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABCABC dayA · johnB · buyC · dayA · johnB · whyC
- 2 -A-A road · moonA · sky · juneA
- 3 ABCABC wifeA · johnB · yetC · wifeA · johnB · pierretteC
- 4 -A-A girls · oneA · fair · sunA
- 5 ABCABC goodA · johnB · inC · goodA · johnB · sinC
- 6 -A-A guitar · moonA · road · juneA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I work all day, | 4 | ···· |
| Said Simple John, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Myself a house to buy. | 6 | ·/···· |
| I work all day, | 4 | ···· |
| Said Simple John, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| But Pierrot wondered why. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| For Pierrot loved the long white road, | 8 | ········ |
| And Pierrot loved the moon, | 6 | ······ |
| And Pierrot loved a star-filled sky, | 8 | ········ |
| And the breath of a rose in June. | 8 | ········ |
| I have one wife, | 4 | ···· |
| Said Simple John, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And, faith, I love her yet. | 6 | ······ |
| I have one wife, | 4 | ···· |
| Said Simple John, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| But Pierrot left Pierrette. | 6 | ······ |
| For Pierrot saw a world of girls, | 8 | ········ |
| And Pierrot loved each one, | 6 | ······ |
| And Pierrot thought all maidens fair | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| As flowers in the sun. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Oh, I am good, | 4 | ···· |
| Said Simple John, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| The Lord will take me in. | 6 | ······ |
| Yes, I am good, | 4 | ···· |
| Said Simple John, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| But Pierrot’s steeped in sin. | 6 | ······ |
| For Pierrot played on a slim guitar, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| And Pierrot loved the moon, | 6 | ······ |
| And Pierrot ran down the long white road | 9 | ········· |
| With the burgher’s wife one June. | 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.