What the Ghost of the Gambler Said
Where now the huts are empty,Where never a camp-fire glows,In an abandoned canyon,A Gambler's Ghost arose.He muttered there, "The moon's a sackOf dust." His voice rose thin:"I wish I knew the miner-man.I'd play, and play to win.In every game in Cripple-creekOf old, when stakes were high,I held my own. Now I would playFor that sack in the sky.The sport would not be ended there.'Twould rather be begun.I'd bet my moon against his stars,And gamble for the sun."
Words in this poem
- canyon n.
- The English form of the Spanish word Cañon.
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- gamble v. i.
- To play or game for money or other stake. [Dim. of game. See 2d Game.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
What the Ghost of the Gambler Said 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, What the Ghost of the Gambler Said, in The Congo and Other Poems (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1021, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lindsay-congo/what-the-ghost-of-the-gambler-said.html, id L00992.
Form and metre
What the Ghost of the Gambler Said is 16 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% 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 -ABA-BBB-C-C-D-D empty · glowsA · canyonB · aroseA · sack · thinB · manB · winB · creek · highC · play · skyC · there · begunD · stars · sunD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Where now the huts are empty, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Where never a camp-fire glows, | 6 | ·/··/· |
| In an abandoned canyon, | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| A Gambler's Ghost arose. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| He muttered there, "The moon's a sack | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of dust." His voice rose thin: | 6 | ······ |
| "I wish I knew the miner-man. | 7 | ·····/· |
| I'd play, and play to win. | 6 | ······ |
| In every game in Cripple-creek | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Of old, when stakes were high, | 6 | ······ |
| I held my own. Now I would play | 8 | ········ |
| For that sack in the sky. | 6 | ······ |
| The sport would not be ended there. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'Twould rather be begun. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| I'd bet my moon against his stars, | 8 | ········ |
| And gamble for the sun." | 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.