The Tarry Buccaneer
I’m going to be a pirate with a bright brass pivot-gun,And an island in the Spanish Main beyond the setting sun,And a silver flagon full of red wine to drink when work is done,Like a fine old salt-sea scavenger, like a tarry Buccaneer.
With a sandy creek to careen in, and a pig-tailed Spanish mate,And under my main-hatches a sparkling merry freightOf doubloons and double moidores and pieces of eight,Like a fine old salt-sea scavenger, like a tarry Buccaneer.
With a taste for Spanish wine-shops and for spending my doubloons,And a crew of swart mulattoes and black-eyed octoroons,And a thoughtful way with mutineers of making them maroons,Like a fine old salt-sea scavenger, like a tarry Buccaneer.
With a sash of crimson velvet and a diamond-hilted sword,And a silver whistle about my neck secured to a golden cord,And a habit of taking captives and walking them along a board,Like a fine old salt-sea scavenger, like a tarry Buccaneer.
With a spy-glass tucked beneath my arm and a cocked hat cocked askew,And a long low rakish schooner a-cutting of the waves in two,And a flag of skull and cross-bones the wickedest that ever flew,Like a fine old salt-sea scavenger, like a tarry Buccaneer.
Words in this poem
- flagon n.
- A vessel with a narrow mouth, used for holding and conveying liquors. It is generally larger than a bottle, and of leather or stoneware rather than of glass. [F. flacon, for flascon, fr. OF. flasche, from LL. flasco. See Flask.]
- buccaneer n.
- A robber upon the sea; a pirate; -- a term applied especially to the piratical adventurers who made depredations on the Spaniards in America in the 17th and 18th centuries. [F. boucanier, fr. boucaner to smoke or broil meat and fish, to hunt wild beasts for their skins, boucan a smoking place for meat or fish, gridiron for smoking: ]
- careen v. t.
- To cause (a vessel) to lean over so that she floats on one side, leaving the other side out of water and accessible for repairs below the water line; to case to be off the keel. [OF. cariner, F. caréner, fr. OF. carène, the bottom of a ship, keel, fr. L. carina.]
- spending n.
- The act of expending; expenditure. Spending money, money set apart for extra (not necessary) personal expenses; pocket money.
- askew adv.
- Awry; askance; asquint; oblique or obliquely; -- sometimes indicating scorn, or contempt, or entry. [Pref. a- + skew.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Tarry Buccaneer 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, The Tarry Buccaneer, in Salt-Water Ballads (1902), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #52761, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masefield-salt-water/the-tarry-buccaneer.html, id L12671.
Form and metre
The Tarry Buccaneer is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines. The metre is iambic octameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 71%). 79% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 15.4 syllables. 5% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in iambic octameter.
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 AAA- gunA · sunA · doneA · buccaneer
- 2 AAA- mateA · freightA · eightA · buccaneer
- 3 AAA- doubloonsA · octoroonsA · maroonsA · buccaneer
- 4 AAA- swordA · cordA · boardA · buccaneer
- 5 AAA- askewA · twoA · flewA · buccaneer
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 octameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I’m going to be a pirate with a bright brass pivot-gun, | 15 | ·/˘···/˘····/˘· |
| And an island in the Spanish Main beyond the setting sun, | 15 | ··/˘··/˘····/˘· |
| And a silver flagon full of red wine to drink when work is done, | 16 | ··/˘/˘·········· |
| Like a fine old salt-sea scavenger, like a tarry Buccaneer. | 16 | ······/˘˘··/˘·˘/ |
| With a sandy creek to careen in, and a pig-tailed Spanish mate, | 16 | ··/˘··˘/·····/˘· |
| And under my main-hatches a sparkling merry freight | 13 | ·····/˘·/˘/˘· |
| Of doubloons and double moidores and pieces of eight, | 13 | ····/˘···/˘·· |
| Like a fine old salt-sea scavenger, like a tarry Buccaneer. | 16 | ······/˘˘··/˘·˘/ |
| With a taste for Spanish wine-shops and for spending my doubloons, | 15 | ····/˘····/˘··· |
| And a crew of swart mulattoes and black-eyed octoroons, | 14 | ·····˘/˘······ |
| And a thoughtful way with mutineers of making them maroons, | 15 | ··/˘···˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| Like a fine old salt-sea scavenger, like a tarry Buccaneer. | 16 | ······/˘˘··/˘·˘/ |
| With a sash of crimson velvet and a diamond-hilted sword, | 15 | ····/˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| And a silver whistle about my neck secured to a golden cord, | 17 | ··/˘/˘····˘/··/˘· |
| And a habit of taking captives and walking them along a board, | 17 | ··/˘·/˘/˘·/˘·˘/·· |
| Like a fine old salt-sea scavenger, like a tarry Buccaneer. | 16 | ······/˘˘··/˘·˘/ |
| With a spy-glass tucked beneath my arm and a cocked hat cocked askew, | 16 | ··············˘/ |
| And a long low rakish schooner a-cutting of the waves in two, | 16 | ····/˘/˘·/˘····· |
| And a flag of skull and cross-bones the wickedest that ever flew, | 16 | ·········/˘˘·/˘· |
| Like a fine old salt-sea scavenger, like a tarry Buccaneer. | 16 | ······/˘˘··/˘·˘/ |
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.