When the Children Come Home
On a lonely selection far out in the WestAn old woman works all the day without rest,And she croons, as she toils 'neath the sky's glassy dome,'Sure I'll keep the ould place till the childer come home.'
She mends all the fences, she grubs, and she ploughs,She drives the old horse and she milks all the cows,And she sings to herself as she thatches the stack,'Sure I'll keep the ould place till the childer come back.'
It is five weary years since her old husband died;And oft as he lay on his deathbed he sighed'Sure one man can bring up ten children, he can,An' it's strange that ten sons cannot keep one old man.'
Whenever the scowling old sundowners come,And cunningly ask if the master's at home,'Be off,' she replies, 'with your blarney and cant,Or I'll call my son Andy; he's workin' beyant.'
'Git out,' she replies, though she trembles with fear,For she lives all alone and no neighbours are near;But she says to herself, when she's like to despond,That the boys are at work in the paddock beyond.
Ah, none of her children need follow the plough,And some have grown rich in the city ere now;Yet she says: 'They might come when the shearing is done,And I'll keep the ould place if it's only for one.'
Words in this poem
- deathbed n.
- The bed in which a person dies; hence, the closing hours of life of one who dies by sickness or the like; the last sickness.
- despond v. i.
- To give up, the will, courage, or spirit; to be thoroughly disheartened; to lose all courage; to become dispirited or depressed; to take an unhopeful view. [L. despond, desponsum, to promise away, promise in marriage, give up, to lose (courage); de- + spond to promise solemnly. See Sponsor.]
- paddock n.
- A small inclosure or park for sporting. [Corrupted fr. parrock. See Parrock.]
- shearing n.
- The act or operation of clipping with shears or a shearing machine, as the wool from sheep, or the nap from cloth.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
When the Children Come Home 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, When the Children Come Home, 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/when-the-children-come-home.html, id L23239.
Form and metre
When the Children Come Home is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in anapaestic 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 AABB westA · restA · domeB · homeB
- 2 AABB ploughsA · cowsA · stackB · backB
- 3 AABB diedA · sighedA · canB · manB
- 4 AABB comeA · homeA · cantB · beyantB
- 5 AABB fearA · nearA · despondB · beyondB
- 6 AABB ploughA · nowA · doneB · oneB
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| On a lonely selection far out in the West | 12 | ··/˘˘/˘····· |
| An old woman works all the day without rest, | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| And she croons, as she toils 'neath the sky's glassy dome, | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| 'Sure I'll keep the ould place till the childer come home.' | 12 | ············ |
| She mends all the fences, she grubs, and she ploughs, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| She drives the old horse and she milks all the cows, | 11 | ··········· |
| And she sings to herself as she thatches the stack, | 12 | ····˘/··/˘·· |
| 'Sure I'll keep the ould place till the childer come back.' | 12 | ············ |
| It is five weary years since her old husband died; | 12 | ···/˘····/˘· |
| And oft as he lay on his deathbed he sighed | 12 | ·······/·˘·· |
| 'Sure one man can bring up ten children, he can, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| An' it's strange that ten sons cannot keep one old man.' | 12 | ······/˘···· |
| Whenever the scowling old sundowners come, | 11 | ˘/˘·/˘····· |
| And cunningly ask if the master's at home, | 11 | ·/˘˘···/˘·· |
| 'Be off,' she replies, 'with your blarney and cant, | 11 | ···˘/··/˘·· |
| Or I'll call my son Andy; he's workin' beyant.' | 11 | ·····/˘·/˘· |
| 'Git out,' she replies, though she trembles with fear, | 11 | ···˘/··/˘·· |
| For she lives all alone and no neighbours are near; | 12 | ····˘/··/˘·· |
| But she says to herself, when she's like to despond, | 12 | ····˘/····˘/ |
| That the boys are at work in the paddock beyond. | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| Ah, none of her children need follow the plough, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| And some have grown rich in the city ere now; | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Yet she says: 'They might come when the shearing is done, | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| And I'll keep the ould place if it's only for one.' | 12 | ········/˘·· |
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.