Daisy Fraser
Did you ever hear of Editor WhedonGiving to the public treasury any of the money he receivedFor supporting candidates for office?Or for writing up the canning factoryTo get people to invest?Or for suppressing the facts about the bank,When it was rotten and ready to break?Did you ever hear of the Circuit JudgeHelping anyone except the “Q” railroad,Or the bankers? Or did Rev. Peet or Rev. SibleyGive any part of their salary, earned by keeping still,Or speaking out as the leaders wished them to do,To the building of the water works?But I—Daisy Fraser who always passedAlong the street through rows of nods and smiles,And coughs and words such as “there she goes.”Never was taken before Justice ArnettWithout contributing ten dollars and costsTo the school fund of Spoon River!
Words in this poem
- anyone n.
- One taken at random rather than by selection; anybody.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Daisy Fraser 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, Daisy Fraser, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/daisy-fraser.html, id L07759.
Form and metre
Daisy Fraser is 19 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 79% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.8 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Did you ever hear of Editor Whedon | 11 | ··/˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| Giving to the public treasury any of the money he received | 18 | /˘··/˘/˘˘/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| For supporting candidates for office? | 10 | ·˘/˘/˘˘·/˘ |
| Or for writing up the canning factory | 11 | ··/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| To get people to invest? | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Or for suppressing the facts about the bank, | 11 | ··˘/˘······ |
| When it was rotten and ready to break? | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| Did you ever hear of the Circuit Judge | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Helping anyone except the “Q” railroad, | 11 | /˘/˘·····/· |
| Or the bankers? Or did Rev. Peet or Rev. Sibley | 12 | ··/˘······/˘ |
| Give any part of their salary, earned by keeping still, | 14 | ·/˘···/˘˘··/˘· |
| Or speaking out as the leaders wished them to do, | 12 | ·/˘···/˘···· |
| To the building of the water works? | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| But I—Daisy Fraser who always passed | 10 | ··/˘/˘·/·· |
| Along the street through rows of nods and smiles, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| And coughs and words such as “there she goes.” | 9 | ········· |
| Never was taken before Justice Arnett | 11 | /˘·/˘··/˘˘/ |
| Without contributing ten dollars and costs | 11 | ··˘/˘˘·/˘·· |
| To the school fund of Spoon River! | 8 | ······/˘ |
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.