The Emigrant
Going by Daly's shanty I heard the boys withinDancing the Spanish hornpipe to Driscoll's violin,I heard the sea-boots shaking the rough planks of the floor,But I was going westward, I hadn't heart for more.
All down the windy village the noise rang in my ears,Old sea boots stamping, shuffling, it brought the bitter tears,The old tune piped and quavered, the lilts came clear and strong,But I was going westward, I couldn't join the song.
There were the grey stone houses, the night wind blowing keen,The hill-sides pale with moonlight, the young corn springing green,The hearth nooks lit and kindly, with dear friends good to see,But I was going westward, and the ship waited me.
Words in this poem
- shanty n.
- A small, mean dwelling; a rough, slight building for temporary use; a hut. [Said to be fr. Ir. sean old + tig. a house.]
- piped a.
- Formed with a pipe; having pipe or pipes; tubular.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Emigrant is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Story of a Round-House, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #40717; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Masefield, The Emigrant, in The Story of a Round-House, and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #40717, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masefield-round-house/the-emigrant.html, id L24996.
Form and metre
The Emigrant is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 AABB withinA · violinA · floorB · moreB
- 2 AABB earsA · tearsA · strongB · songB
- 3 AABB keenA · greenA · seeB · meB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Going by Daly's shanty I heard the boys within | 13 | /˘·/˘/˘······ |
| Dancing the Spanish hornpipe to Driscoll's violin, | 13 | /˘·/˘/˘·/˘˘˘/ |
| I heard the sea-boots shaking the rough planks of the floor, | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| But I was going westward, I hadn't heart for more. | 13 | ···/˘/˘·/˘··· |
| All down the windy village the noise rang in my ears, | 13 | ···/˘/˘······ |
| Old sea boots stamping, shuffling, it brought the bitter tears, | 13 | ···/˘/˘···/˘· |
| The old tune piped and quavered, the lilts came clear and strong, | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| But I was going westward, I couldn't join the song. | 13 | ···/˘/˘·/˘··· |
| There were the grey stone houses, the night wind blowing keen, | 13 | ·····/˘···/˘· |
| The hill-sides pale with moonlight, the young corn springing green, | 13 | ·····/····/˘· |
| The hearth nooks lit and kindly, with dear friends good to see, | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| But I was going westward, and the ship waited me. | 13 | ···/˘/˘···/˘· |
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.