One of Wally’s Yarns
I seed him rise in the white o’ the wake, I seed him lift a hand(’N’ him in his oilskin suit ’n’ all), I heard him lift a cry;’N’ there was his place on the yard ’n’ all, ’n’ the stirrup’sbusted strand.’N’ the old man said there’s a cruel old sea runnin’,A cold green Barney’s Bull of a sea runnin’;It’s hard, but I ain’t agoin’ to let a boat be lowered:So we left him there to die.
He couldn’t have kept afloat for long an’ him lashed up ’n’ all,’N’ we couldn’t see him for long, for the sea was blurred withthe sleet ’n’ snow,’N’ we couldn’t think of him much because o’ the snortin’,screamin’ squall.There was a hand less at the halliards ’n’ the braces,’N’ a name less when the watch spoke to the muster-roll,’N’ a empty bunk ’n’ a pannikin as wasn’t wantedWhen the watch went below.
Words in this poem
- oilskin n.
- Cloth made waterproof by oil.
- afloat adv.
- Borne on the water; floating; on board ship. [Pref. a- + float.]
- sleet n.
- The part of a mortar extending from the chamber to the trunnions.
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- bunk n.
- A wooden case or box, which serves for a seat in the daytime and for a bed at night. [U.S.] [Cf. OSw. bunke heap, also boaring, flooring. Cf. Bunch.]
- pannikin n.
- A small pan or cup. Marryat. Thackeray. [Dim. of pan a dish.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
One of Wally’s Yarns is in the public domain. This text is taken from Salt-Water Ballads, Project Gutenberg ebook #52761; 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, One of Wally’s Yarns, in Salt-Water Ballads (1902), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #52761, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masefield-salt-water/one-of-wally-s-yarns.html, id L12654.
Form and metre
One of Wally’s Yarns is 17 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is trochaic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.2 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 24% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic heptameter.
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 AB-ACC-B handA · cryB · stirrup's · strandA · runninC · runninC · lowered · dieB
- 2 A-B-A---B allA · with · snowB · snortin · squallA · braces · roll · wanted · belowB
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 trochaic heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I seed him rise in the white o’ the wake, I seed him lift a hand | 16 | ················ |
| (’N’ him in his oilskin suit ’n’ all), I heard him lift a cry; | 15 | ····/˘········· |
| ’N’ there was his place on the yard ’n’ all, ’n’ the stirrup’s | 14 | ············/˘ |
| busted strand. | 3 | /˘· |
| ’N’ the old man said there’s a cruel old sea runnin’, | 13 | ·······/˘··/˘ |
| A cold green Barney’s Bull of a sea runnin’; | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| It’s hard, but I ain’t agoin’ to let a boat be lowered: | 14 | ············/˘ |
| So we left him there to die. | 7 | ······· |
| He couldn’t have kept afloat for long an’ him lashed up ’n’ all, | 15 | ·/˘··˘/········ |
| ’N’ we couldn’t see him for long, for the sea was blurred with | 14 | ··/˘·········· |
| the sleet ’n’ snow, | 4 | ···· |
| ’N’ we couldn’t think of him much because o’ the snortin’, | 14 | ··/˘·········· |
| screamin’ squall. | 3 | ··· |
| There was a hand less at the halliards ’n’ the braces, | 13 | ···········/˘ |
| ’N’ a name less when the watch spoke to the muster-roll, | 13 | ··········/˘· |
| ’N’ a empty bunk ’n’ a pannikin as wasn’t wanted | 15 | ··/˘···/˘˘·/˘/˘ |
| When the watch went below. | 6 | ······ |
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