Alfred Moir
Why was I not devoured by self-contempt,And rotted down by indifferenceAnd impotent revolt like Indignation Jones?Why, with all of my errant stepsDid I miss the fate of Willard Fluke?And why, though I stood at Burchard’s bar,As a sort of decoy for the house to the boysTo buy the drinks, did the curse of drinkFall on me like rain that runs off,Leaving the soul of me dry and clean?And why did I never kill a manLike Jack McGuire?But instead I mounted a little in life,And I owe it all to a book I read.But why did I go to Mason City,Where I chanced to see the book in a window,With its garish cover luring my eye?And why did my soul respond to the book,As I read it over and over?
Words in this poem
- errant n.
- One who wanders about. Fuller.
- garish a.
- Showy; dazzling; ostentatious; attracting or exciting attention. [Cf. OE. gauren to stare; of uncertain origin. Cf. gairish.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Alfred Moir is in the public domain. This text is taken from Spoon River Anthology, Project Gutenberg ebook #1280; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edgar Lee Masters, Alfred Moir, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/alfred-moir.html, id L07900.
Form and metre
Alfred Moir is 19 lines in a single verse paragraph. 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 74%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.5 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 26% 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Why was I not devoured by self-contempt, | 11 | ····˘/˘··˘/ |
| And rotted down by indifference | 9 | ·/˘··˘/˘˘ |
| And impotent revolt like Indignation Jones? | 12 | ·/˘˘˘/··˘/˘· |
| Why, with all of my errant steps | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Did I miss the fate of Willard Fluke? | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And why, though I stood at Burchard’s bar, | 9 | ······˘/· |
| As a sort of decoy for the house to the boys | 12 | ····˘/······ |
| To buy the drinks, did the curse of drink | 9 | ········· |
| Fall on me like rain that runs off, | 8 | ········ |
| Leaving the soul of me dry and clean? | 9 | /˘······· |
| And why did I never kill a man | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Like Jack McGuire? | 4 | ··˘/ |
| But instead I mounted a little in life, | 11 | ·˘/·/˘·/˘·· |
| And I owe it all to a book I read. | 10 | ·········· |
| But why did I go to Mason City, | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| Where I chanced to see the book in a window, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| With its garish cover luring my eye? | 10 | ··/˘/˘/˘·· |
| And why did my soul respond to the book, | 10 | ·····˘/··· |
| As I read it over and over? | 9 | ········· |
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.