Middleton's Rouseabout
Tall and freckled and sandy,Face of a country lout;This was the picture of Andy,Middleton's Rouseabout.
Type of a coming nation,In the land of cattle and sheep,Worked on Middleton's station,'Pound a week and his keep.'
On Middleton's wide dominionsPlied the stockwhip and shears;Hadn't any opinions,Hadn't any 'idears'.
Swiftly the years went over,Liquor and drought prevailed;Middleton went as a drover,After his station had failed.
Type of a careless nation,Men who are soon played out,Middleton was: -- and his stationWas bought by the Rouseabout.
Flourishing beard and sandy,Tall and robust and stout;This is the picture of Andy,Middleton's Rouseabout.
Now on his own dominionsWorks with his overseers;Hasn't any opinions,Hasn't any 'idears'.
Words in this poem
- freckled a.
- Marked with freckles; spotted.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- drover n.
- One who drives cattle or sheep to market; one who makes it his business to purchase cattle, and drive them to market.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Middleton's Rouseabout is in the public domain. This text is taken from In the Days When the World Was Wide, and Other Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #214; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Lawson, Middleton's Rouseabout, in In the Days When the World Was Wide (1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #214, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lawson-world-was-wide/middleton-s-rouseabout.html, id L23218.
Form and metre
Middleton's Rouseabout is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 7 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABAB sandyA · loutB · andyA · rouseaboutB
- 2 ABAB nationA · sheepB · stationA · keepB
- 3 ABAB dominionsA · shearsB · opinionsA · idearsB
- 4 ABAB overA · prevailedB · droverA · failedB
- 5 ABAB nationA · outB · stationA · rouseaboutB
- 6 ABAB sandyA · stoutB · andyA · rouseaboutB
- 7 A-A- dominionsA · overseers · opinionsA · idears
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tall and freckled and sandy, | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| Face of a country lout; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| This was the picture of Andy, | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| Middleton's Rouseabout. | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| Type of a coming nation, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| In the land of cattle and sheep, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Worked on Middleton's station, | 7 | ··/˘˘/˘ |
| 'Pound a week and his keep.' | 6 | ······ |
| On Middleton's wide dominions | 8 | ·/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| Plied the stockwhip and shears; | 6 | ······ |
| Hadn't any opinions, | 7 | /˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Hadn't any 'idears'. | 6 | /˘/˘·· |
| Swiftly the years went over, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Liquor and drought prevailed; | 7 | /˘··˘/˘ |
| Middleton went as a drover, | 8 | /˘˘···/˘ |
| After his station had failed. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Type of a careless nation, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Men who are soon played out, | 7 | ·····˘· |
| Middleton was: -- and his station | 8 | /˘˘···/˘ |
| Was bought by the Rouseabout. | 7 | ······· |
| Flourishing beard and sandy, | 7 | /˘˘··/˘ |
| Tall and robust and stout; | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| This is the picture of Andy, | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| Middleton's Rouseabout. | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| Now on his own dominions | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Works with his overseers; | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Hasn't any opinions, | 7 | /˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Hasn't any 'idears'. | 6 | /˘/˘·· |
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.