Kempthorn
I do acknowledge,Among the passengers on board the SwallowWere certain persons saying Thee and Thou.They seemed a harmless people, mostways silent,Particularly when they said their prayers.
Harmless and silent as the pestilence!You'd better have brought the fever or the plagueAmong us in your ship! Therefore, this Court,For preservation of the Peace and Truth,Hereby commands you speedily to transport,Or cause to be transported speedily,The aforesaid persons hence unto Barbadoes,From whence they came; you paying all the chargesOf their imprisonment.
Worshipful sir,No ship e'er prospered that has carried QuakersAgainst their will! I knew a vessel once--
And for the more effectual performanceHereof you are to give securityIn bonds amounting to one hundred pounds.On your refusal, you will be committedTo prison till you do it.
But you seeI cannot do it. The law, sir, of BarbadoesForbids the landing Quakers on the island.
Then you will be committed. Who comes next?
There is another charge against the Captain.
What is it?
Profane swearing, please your Worship.He cursed and swore from Dock Square to the Court-house,
Then let him stand in the pillory for one hour.
Words in this poem
- hereby adv.
- By means of this.
- barbadoes n.
- A West Indian island, giving its name to a disease, to a cherry, etc. Barbados cherry (Bot.), a genus of trees of the West Indies (Malpighia) with an agreeably acid fruit resembling a cherry.
- worshipful a.
- Entitled to worship, reverence, or high respect; claiming respect; worthy of honor; -- often used as a term of respect, sometimes ironically.
- hereof adv.
- Of this; concerning this; from this; hence.
- cursed a.
- Deserving a curse; execrable; hateful; detestable; abominable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Kempthorn 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, Kempthorn, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/kempthorn.html, id L17961.
Form and metre
Kempthorn is 31 lines in 10 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.3 syllables. 14 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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.
- 2 --A-A---- pestilence · plague · courtA · truth · transportA · speedily · barbadoes · charges · imprisonment
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I do acknowledge, | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Among the passengers on board the Swallow | 11 | ···/˘˘···/˘ |
| Were certain persons saying Thee and Thou. | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| They seemed a harmless people, mostways silent, | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Particularly when they said their prayers. | 10 | ˘/˘˘˘····· |
| Harmless and silent as the pestilence! | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘˘ |
| You'd better have brought the fever or the plague | 11 | ·/˘···/˘··· |
| Among us in your ship! Therefore, this Court, | 10 | ·········· |
| For preservation of the Peace and Truth, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Hereby commands you speedily to transport, | 10 | ˘/˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| Or cause to be transported speedily, | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘˘ |
| The aforesaid persons hence unto Barbadoes, | 11 | ·˘/·/˘····· |
| From whence they came; you paying all the charges | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Of their imprisonment. | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| Worshipful sir, | 4 | /˘˘· |
| No ship e'er prospered that has carried Quakers | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Against their will! I knew a vessel once-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And for the more effectual performance | 11 | ····˘/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Hereof you are to give security | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘˘ |
| In bonds amounting to one hundred pounds. | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| On your refusal, you will be committed | 11 | ··˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| To prison till you do it. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| But you see | 3 | ··· |
| I cannot do it. The law, sir, of Barbadoes | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Forbids the landing Quakers on the island. | 11 | ˘/·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Then you will be committed. Who comes next? | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| There is another charge against the Captain. | 11 | ··˘/˘····/˘ |
| What is it? | 3 | ··· |
| Profane swearing, please your Worship. | 8 | ˘//˘··/˘ |
| He cursed and swore from Dock Square to the Court-house, | 11 | ··········· |
| Then let him stand in the pillory for one hour. | 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.