Improviso on a Young Heir's Coming of Age
Long expected one-and-twenty,Ling'ring year, at length is flown;Pride and pleasure, pomp and plenty,Great----, are now your own.
Loosen'd from the minor's tether,Free to mortgage or to sell;Wild as wind, and light as feather,Bid the sons of thrift farewell.
Call the Betseys, Kates, and Jennies,All the names that banish care;Lavish of your grandsire's guineas,Show the spirit of an heir.
All that prey on vice or follyJoy to see their quarry fly:There the gamester light and jolly,There the lender grave and sly.
Wealth, my lad, was made to wander,Let it wander as it will;Call the jockey, call the pander,Bid them come, and take their fill.
When the bonny blade carouses,Pockets full, and spirits high--What are acres? what are houses?Only dirt, or wet or dry.
Should the guardian friend, or motherTell the woes of wilful waste;Scorn their counsel, scorn their pother,You can hang or drown at last.
Words in this poem
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- tether n.
- A long rope or chain by which an animal is fastened, as to a stake, so that it can range or feed only within certain limits. [Formerly tedder, OE. tedir; akin to LG. tider, tier, Icel. tjo, Dan. töir. *64.]
- gamester n.
- A merry, frolicsome person. [Game + -ster.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- bonny a.
- Handsome; beautiful; pretty; attractively lively and graceful. [OE. boni, prob. fr. F. bon, fem. bonne, good, fr. L. bonus good. See Bounty, and cf. Bonus, Boon.]
- pother n.
- Bustle; confusion; tumult; flutter; bother. [Cf. D. peuteren to rummage, poke. Cf. Potter, Pudder.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Improviso on a Young Heir's Coming of Age is in the public domain. This text is taken from Dr. Johnson's Works: Life, Poems, and Tales, Volume 1 (The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine Volumes, 1825), Project Gutenberg ebook #10835; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Samuel Johnson, Improviso on a Young Heir's Coming of Age, in Poems (1825), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10835, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-poems/improviso-on-a-young-heir-s-coming-of-age.html, id L27174.
Form and metre
Improviso on a Young Heir's Coming of Age is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 97%).
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 ABAB twentyA · flownB · plentyA · ownB
- 2 ABAB tetherA · sellB · featherA · farewellB
- 3 ABAB jenniesA · careB · guineasA · heirB
- 4 ABAB follyA · flyB · jollyA · slyB
- 5 ABAB wanderA · willB · panderA · fillB
- 6 ABAB carousesA · highB · housesA · dryB
- 7 ABAB motherA · wasteB · potherA · lastB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Long expected one-and-twenty, | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| Ling'ring year, at length is flown; | 7 | ······· |
| Pride and pleasure, pomp and plenty, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Great----, are now your own. | 5 | ····· |
| Loosen'd from the minor's tether, | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Free to mortgage or to sell; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Wild as wind, and light as feather, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Bid the sons of thrift farewell. | 7 | ······/ |
| Call the Betseys, Kates, and Jennies, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| All the names that banish care; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Lavish of your grandsire's guineas, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Show the spirit of an heir. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| All that prey on vice or folly | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Joy to see their quarry fly: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| There the gamester light and jolly, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| There the lender grave and sly. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Wealth, my lad, was made to wander, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Let it wander as it will; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Call the jockey, call the pander, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Bid them come, and take their fill. | 7 | ······· |
| When the bonny blade carouses, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Pockets full, and spirits high-- | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| What are acres? what are houses? | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Only dirt, or wet or dry. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Should the guardian friend, or mother | 9 | ··/˘˘··/˘ |
| Tell the woes of wilful waste; | 7 | ······· |
| Scorn their counsel, scorn their pother, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| You can hang or drown at last. | 7 | ······· |
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