Strange Jokes
Well: Death is a huge omnivorous ToadGrim squatting on a twilight road.He catcheth all that CircumstanceHath tossed to him.He curseth all who upward glanceAs lost to him.
Once in a whimsey mood he satAnd talked of life, in proverbs pat,To Eve in Eden, -- "Death, on Life" --As if he knew!And so he toadied Adam's wifeThere, in the dew.
O dainty dew, O morning dewThat gleamed in the world's first dawn, did youAnd the sweet grass and manful oaksGive lair and restTo him who toadwise sits and croaksHis death-behest?
Who fears the hungry Toad? Not I!He but unfetters me to fly.The German still, when one is dead,Cries out "Der Tod!"But, pilgrims, Christ will walk aheadAnd clear the road.
Words in this poem
- omnivorous a.
- All-devouring; eating everything indiscriminately; as, omnivorous vanity; esp. (Zoöl.), eating both animal and vegetable food. [L. omnivorus; omnis all + vorate to eat greedily. See Voracious.]
- whimsey n.
- A whim; a freak; a capricious notion, a fanciful or odd conceit. [See Whim.]
- eden n.
- The garden where Adam and Eve first dwelt; hence, a delightful region or residence. [Heb. eden delight, pleasure; also, a place of pleasure, Eden.]
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
- manful a.
- Showing manliness, or manly spirit; hence, brave, courageous, resolute, noble.
- lair n.
- A place in which to lie or rest; especially, the bed or couch of a wild beast. [OE. leir, AS. leger; akin to D. leger, G. lager couch, lair, OHG. laga, Goth. ligrs, and to E. lie. See Lie to be prostrate, and cf. Layer, Leaguer.]
- ahead adv.
- In or to the front; in advance; onward. [Pref. a- + head.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Strange Jokes is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Sidney Lanier, Project Gutenberg ebook #579; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sidney Lanier, Strange Jokes, in Poems (1884), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #579, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lanier-poems/strange-jokes.html, id L07676.
Form and metre
Strange Jokes is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCBC, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 46% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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 AABCBC toadA · roadA · circumstanceB · himC · glanceB · himC
- 2 AABCBC satA · patA · lifeB · knewC · wifeB · dewC
- 3 AA-B-B dewA · youA · oaks · restB · croaks · behestB
- 4 AAB-B- iA · flyA · deadB · tod · aheadB · road
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Well: Death is a huge omnivorous Toad | 10 | ·····˘/˘˘· |
| Grim squatting on a twilight road. | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| He catcheth all that Circumstance | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Hath tossed to him. | 4 | ···· |
| He curseth all who upward glance | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| As lost to him. | 4 | ···· |
| Once in a whimsey mood he sat | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And talked of life, in proverbs pat, | 9 | ··˘···/˘· |
| To Eve in Eden, -- "Death, on Life" -- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As if he knew! | 4 | ···· |
| And so he toadied Adam's wife | 7 | ····/˘· |
| There, in the dew. | 4 | ···· |
| O dainty dew, O morning dew | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That gleamed in the world's first dawn, did you | 10 | ··˘······· |
| And the sweet grass and manful oaks | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Give lair and rest | 4 | ···· |
| To him who toadwise sits and croaks | 8 | ········ |
| His death-behest? | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Who fears the hungry Toad? Not I! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He but unfetters me to fly. | 8 | ········ |
| The German still, when one is dead, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Cries out "Der Tod!" | 4 | ···· |
| But, pilgrims, Christ will walk ahead | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And clear the road. | 4 | ···· |
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.