The Haughty Snail-king
Twelve snails went walking after night.They'd creep an inch or so,Then stop and bug their eyesAnd blow.Some folks... are... deadly... slow.Twelve snails went walking yestereve,Led by their fat old king.They were so dull their princeling hadNo sceptre, robe or ring--Only a paper cap to wearWhen nightly journeying.
This king-snail said: "I feel a thoughtWithin.... It blossoms soon....O little courtiers of mine,...I crave a pretty boon....Oh, yes... (High thoughts with effort comeAnd well-bred snails are ALMOST dumb.)"I wish I had a yellow crownAs glistering... as... the moon."
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- yestereve n.
- The evening of yesterday; the evening last past.
- princeling n.
- A petty prince; a young prince.
- sceptre n.
- A staff or baton borne by a sovereign, as a ceremonial badge or emblem of authority; a royal mace. [F. sceptre, L. sceptrum, from Gr. shaft. See Shaft, and cf. Scape a stem, shaft.]
- nightly a.
- Of or pertaining to the night, or to every night; happening or done by night, or every night; as, nightly shades; he kept nightly vigils.
- crave v. t.
- To ask with earnestness or importunity; to ask with submission or humility; to beg; to entreat; to beseech; to implore. [AS. crafian; akin to Icel. krefia, Sw. kr, Dan. kr.]
- boon n.
- A prayer or petition. [OE. bone, boin, a petition, fr. Icel. b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, AS. b, and perh. to E. ban; but influenced by F. bon good, fr. L. bonus. Ban, Bounty.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Haughty Snail-king is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Congo, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1021; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Vachel Lindsay, The Haughty Snail-king, in The Congo and Other Poems (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1021, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lindsay-congo/the-haughty-snail-king.html, id L00981.
Form and metre
The Haughty Snail-king is 19 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.7 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 32% 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 -A-AA-B-B-B night · soA · eyes · blowA · slowA · yestereve · kingB · had · ringB · wear · journeyingB
- 2 -A-ABB-A thought · soonA · mine · boonA · comeB · dumbB · crown · moonA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Twelve snails went walking after night. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| They'd creep an inch or so, | 6 | ······ |
| Then stop and bug their eyes | 6 | ······ |
| And blow. | 2 | ·· |
| Some folks... are... deadly... slow. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Twelve snails went walking yestereve, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Led by their fat old king. | 6 | ······ |
| They were so dull their princeling had | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| No sceptre, robe or ring-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Only a paper cap to wear | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| When nightly journeying. | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| This king-snail said: "I feel a thought | 8 | ········ |
| Within.... It blossoms soon.... | 6 | ···/˘· |
| O little courtiers of mine,... | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| I crave a pretty boon.... | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Oh, yes... (High thoughts with effort come | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And well-bred snails are ALMOST dumb.) | 8 | ·····/·· |
| "I wish I had a yellow crown | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| As glistering... as... the moon." | 7 | ······· |
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.