Act IV: Scene I. — The Green in Front of the Village Meeting-House. An Excited Crowd Gathering. Enter John Gloyd
A FARMER.Who will be tried to-day?
A SECOND.I do not know.Here is John Gloyd. Ask him; he knows.
FARMER.John Gloyd,Whose turn is it to-day?
GLOYD.It's Goodwife Corey's.
FARMER.Giles Corey's wife?
GLOYD.The same. She is not mine.It will go hard with her with all her praying.The hypocrite! She's always on her knees;But she prays to the Devil when she prays.Let us go in.
FARMER.Here come the Magistrates.
Who's the tall man in front?
GLOYD.Oh, that is Hathorne,A Justice of the Court, and a Quarter-masterIn the Three County Troop. He'll sift the matter.That's Corwin with him; and the man in blackIs Cotton Mather, Minister of Boston.
The Meeting-house is full. I never sawSo great a crowd before.
GLOYD.No matter. Come.We shall find room enough by elbowingOur way among them. Put your shoulder to it.
FARMER.There were not half so many at the trialOf Goodwife Bishop.
GLOYD.Keep close after me.I'll find a place for you. They'll want me there.I am a friend of Corey's, as you know,And he can't do without me just at present.
Words in this poem
- goodwife n.
- The mistress of a house. Robynson (More's Utopia).
- county n.
- An earldom; the domain of a count or earl. [F. comt, fr. LL. comitatus. See Count.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act IV: Scene I. — The Green in Front of the Village Meeting-House. An Excited Crowd Gathering. Enter John Gloyd is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; 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 Wadsworth Longfellow, Act IV: Scene I. — The Green in Front of the Village Meeting-House. An Excited Crowd Gathering. Enter John Gloyd, in Christus: A Mystery (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-christus/act-iv-scene-i-the-green-in-front-of-the-village-meeting-hou.html, id L19244.
Form and metre
Act IV: Scene I. — The Green in Front of the Village Meeting-House. An Excited Crowd Gathering. Enter John Gloyd is 41 lines in 13 stanzas.
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.
- 6 -A---A gloyd · mineA · praying · knees · prays · inA
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A FARMER. | 3 | ·/˘ |
| Who will be tried to-day? | 6 | ······ |
| A SECOND. | 3 | ·/˘ |
| I do not know. | 4 | ···· |
| Here is John Gloyd. Ask him; he knows. | 8 | ········ |
| FARMER. | 2 | /˘ |
| John Gloyd, | 2 | ·· |
| Whose turn is it to-day? | 6 | ······ |
| GLOYD. | 1 | · |
| It's Goodwife Corey's. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| FARMER. | 2 | /˘ |
| Giles Corey's wife? | 4 | ·/˘· |
| GLOYD. | 1 | · |
| The same. She is not mine. | 6 | ······ |
| It will go hard with her with all her praying. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| The hypocrite! She's always on her knees; | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| But she prays to the Devil when she prays. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Let us go in. | 4 | ···· |
| FARMER. | 2 | /˘ |
| Here come the Magistrates. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Who's the tall man in front? | 6 | ······ |
| GLOYD. | 1 | · |
| Oh, that is Hathorne, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| A Justice of the Court, and a Quarter-master | 12 | ·/˘·····/˘/˘ |
| In the Three County Troop. He'll sift the matter. | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| That's Corwin with him; and the man in black | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Is Cotton Mather, Minister of Boston. | 11 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘·/˘ |
| The Meeting-house is full. I never saw | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| So great a crowd before. | 6 | ······ |
| GLOYD. | 1 | · |
| No matter. Come. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| We shall find room enough by elbowing | 10 | ····˘/·/·˘ |
| Our way among them. Put your shoulder to it. | 11 | /······/˘·· |
| FARMER. | 2 | /˘ |
| There were not half so many at the trial | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Of Goodwife Bishop. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| GLOYD. | 1 | · |
| Keep close after me. | 5 | ····· |
| I'll find a place for you. They'll want me there. | 10 | ·········· |
| I am a friend of Corey's, as you know, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And he can't do without me just at present. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
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.