The Lottery Girl
"Lottery, lottery,Take a chance at the lottery?Take a ticket,Or, better, take two;Who knows what the futureMay hold for you?Lottery, lottery,Take a chance at the lottery?"
Oh, limpid-eyed girl,I would take every chance,If only the prizeWere a love-flashing glanceFrom your fathomless eyes.
"Lottery, lottery,Try your luck at the lottery?Consider the sizeOf the capital prize,And take ticketsFor the lottery.Tickets, senor? Tickets, senor?Take a chance at the lottery?"
Oh, crimson-lipped girl,With the magical smile,I would count that the gambleWere well worth the while,Not a chance would I miss,If only the prizeWere a honey-bee kissGathered in sipsFrom those full-ripened lips,And a love-flashing glanceFrom your eyes.
Words in this poem
- fathomless a.
- Incapable of being fathomed; immeasurable; that can not be sounded.
- gamble v. i.
- To play or game for money or other stake. [Dim. of game. See 2d Game.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Lottery Girl is in the public domain. This text is taken from Fifty Years, & Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #17884; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Weldon Johnson, The Lottery Girl, in Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17884, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-fifty-years/the-lottery-girl.html, id L08310.
Form and metre
The Lottery Girl is 32 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%). 84% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.8 syllables. 12 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 31% 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 AA-B-BAA lotteryA · lotteryA · ticket · twoB · future · youB · lotteryA · lotteryA
- 2 -ABAB girl · chanceA · prizeB · glanceA · eyesB
- 3 AABB-A-A lotteryA · lotteryA · sizeB · prizeB · tickets · lotteryA · senor · lotteryA
- 4 ABABCDCEE-D girlA · smileB · gambleA · whileB · missC · prizeD · kissC · sipsE · lipsE · glance · eyesD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Lottery, lottery, | 6 | /˘˘/˘˘ |
| Take a chance at the lottery? | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Take a ticket, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Or, better, take two; | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Who knows what the future | 6 | ····/˘ |
| May hold for you? | 4 | ···· |
| Lottery, lottery, | 6 | /˘˘/˘˘ |
| Take a chance at the lottery?" | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Oh, limpid-eyed girl, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| I would take every chance, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| If only the prize | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Were a love-flashing glance | 6 | ···/˘· |
| From your fathomless eyes. | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| "Lottery, lottery, | 6 | /˘˘/˘˘ |
| Try your luck at the lottery? | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Consider the size | 5 | ˘/˘·· |
| Of the capital prize, | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| And take tickets | 4 | ··/˘ |
| For the lottery. | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
| Tickets, senor? Tickets, senor? | 8 | /˘·//˘·/ |
| Take a chance at the lottery?" | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Oh, crimson-lipped girl, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| With the magical smile, | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| I would count that the gamble | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Were well worth the while, | 5 | ····· |
| Not a chance would I miss, | 6 | ······ |
| If only the prize | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Were a honey-bee kiss | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Gathered in sips | 4 | /˘·· |
| From those full-ripened lips, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| And a love-flashing glance | 6 | ···/˘· |
| From your eyes. | 3 | ··· |
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.