Ballade of a Special Edition
He comes; I hear him up the street--Bird of ill omen, flapping wideThe pinion of a printed sheet,His hoarse note scares the eventide.Of slaughter, theft, and suicideHe is the herald and the friend;Now he vociferates with pride--A double murder in Mile End!
A hanging to his soul is sweet;His gloating fancy’s fain to bideWhere human-freighted vessels meet,And misdirected trains collide.With Shocking Accidents supplied,He tramps the town from end to end.How often have we heard it cried--A double murder in Mile End.
War loves he; victory or defeat,So there be loss on either side.His tale of horrors incomplete,Imagination’s aid is tried.Since no distinguished man has died,And since the Fates, relenting, sendNo great catastrophe, he’s spiedThis double murder in Mile End.
Fiend, get thee gone! no more repeatThose sounds which do mine ears offend.It is apocryphal, you cheat,Your double murder in Mile End.
Words in this poem
- pinion n.
- A moth of the genus Lithophane, as L. antennata, whose larva bores large holes in young peaches and apples.
- eventide n.
- The time of evening; evening. [AS. æfentid. See Tide.]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
- collide v. t.
- To strike or dash against.
- shocking a.
- Causing to shake or tremble, as by a blow; especially, causing to recoil with horror or disgust; extremely offensive or disgusting.
- defeat v. t.
- To undo; to disfigure; to destroy. [From F. défait, OF. desfait, p. p. ofe défaire, OF. desfaire, to undo; L. dis- + facere to do. See Feat, Fact, and cf. Disfashion.]
- catastrophe n.
- An event producing a subversion of the order or system of things; a final event, usually of a calamitous or disastrous nature; hence, sudden calamity; great misfortune.
- apocryphal a.
- Pertaining to the Apocrypha.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ballade of a Special Edition is in the public domain. This text is taken from A London Plane-Tree, and Other Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #56974; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Amy Levy, Ballade of a Special Edition, in A London Plane-Tree, and Other Verse (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56974, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/levy-london-plane-tree/ballade-of-a-special-edition.html, id L21525.
Form and metre
Ballade of a Special Edition is 28 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABABBCBC, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABABBCBC streetA · wideB · sheetA · eventideB · suicideB · friendC · prideB · endC
- 2 ABABBCBC sweetA · bideB · meetA · collideB · suppliedB · endC · criedB · endC
- 3 ABABBCBC defeatA · sideB · incompleteA · triedB · diedB · sendC · spiedB · endC
- 4 ABAB repeatA · offendB · cheatA · endB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| He comes; I hear him up the street-- | 8 | ········ |
| Bird of ill omen, flapping wide | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The pinion of a printed sheet, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| His hoarse note scares the eventide. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Of slaughter, theft, and suicide | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| He is the herald and the friend; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Now he vociferates with pride-- | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| A double murder in Mile End! | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| A hanging to his soul is sweet; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| His gloating fancy’s fain to bide | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Where human-freighted vessels meet, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And misdirected trains collide. | 8 | ·˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| With Shocking Accidents supplied, | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| He tramps the town from end to end. | 8 | ········ |
| How often have we heard it cried-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A double murder in Mile End. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| War loves he; victory or defeat, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| So there be loss on either side. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| His tale of horrors incomplete, | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| Imagination’s aid is tried. | 8 | ˘·˘/˘··· |
| Since no distinguished man has died, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And since the Fates, relenting, send | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| No great catastrophe, he’s spied | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| This double murder in Mile End. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Fiend, get thee gone! no more repeat | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Those sounds which do mine ears offend. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| It is apocryphal, you cheat, | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| Your double murder in Mile End. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
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