Eugene Carman
Rhodes’ slave! Selling shoes and gingham,Flour and bacon, overalls, clothing, all day longFor fourteen hours a day for three hundred and thirteen daysFor more than twenty years.Saying “Yes’m” and “Yes, sir”, and “Thank you”A thousand times a day, and all for fifty dollars a month.Living in this stinking room in the rattle-trap “Commercial.”And compelled to go to Sunday School, and to listenTo the Rev. Abner Peet one hundred and four times a yearFor more than an hour at a time,Because Thomas Rhodes ran the churchAs well as the store and the bank.So while I was tying my neck-tie that morningI suddenly saw myself in the glass:My hair all gray, my face like a sodden pie.So I cursed and cursed: You damned old thingYou cowardly dog! You rotten pauper!You Rhodes’ slave! Till Roger BaughmanThought I was having a fight with some one,And looked through the transom just in timeTo see me fall on the floor in a heapFrom a broken vein in my head.
Words in this poem
- gingham n.
- A kind of cotton or linen cloth, usually in stripes or checks, the yarn of which is dyed before it is woven; -- distinguished from printed cotton or prints. [F. guingan; cf. Jav. ginggang; or perh. fr. Guingamp, in France.]
- overalls n.
- A kind of loose trousers worn over others to protect them from soiling.
- thank n.
- A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
- cursed a.
- Deserving a curse; execrable; hateful; detestable; abominable.
- damned a.
- Sentenced to punishment in a future state; condemned; consigned to perdition.
- pauper n.
- A poor person; especially, one development on private or public charity. Also used adjectively; as, pouper immigrants, pouper labor. [L. See Poor.]
- roger n.
- A black flag with white skull and crossbones, formerly used by pirates; -- called also Jolly Roger.
- transom n.
- A horizontal crossbar in a window, over a door, or between a door and a window above it. Transom is the horizontal, as mullion is the vertical, bar across an opening. See Illust. of Mullion. [Probably fr. L. transtrum a crossbeam, transom, from trans across. Cf. Trestle.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Eugene Carman 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, Eugene Carman, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/eugene-carman.html, id L07853.
Form and metre
Eugene Carman is 22 lines in a single stanza. 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 46% 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.
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 ---------A--B--B-CCA-- gingham · long · days · years · you · month · commercial · listen · year · timeA · church · bank · morningB · glass · pie · thingB · pauper · baughmanC · oneC · timeA · heap · head
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Rhodes’ slave! Selling shoes and gingham, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Flour and bacon, overalls, clothing, all day long | 13 | /˘·/˘/˘·/˘··· |
| For fourteen hours a day for three hundred and thirteen days | 15 | ·///˘····/˘·//· |
| For more than twenty years. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Saying “Yes’m” and “Yes, sir”, and “Thank you” | 9 | /˘······· |
| A thousand times a day, and all for fifty dollars a month. | 15 | ·/˘······/˘/˘·· |
| Living in this stinking room in the rattle-trap “Commercial.” | 15 | /˘··/˘···/˘·˘/˘ |
| And compelled to go to Sunday School, and to listen | 13 | ·˘/···/····/˘ |
| To the Rev. Abner Peet one hundred and four times a year | 14 | ···/˘··/˘····· |
| For more than an hour at a time, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Because Thomas Rhodes ran the church | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| As well as the store and the bank. | 8 | ········ |
| So while I was tying my neck-tie that morning | 12 | ····/˘····/˘ |
| I suddenly saw myself in the glass: | 10 | ·/˘˘··/··· |
| My hair all gray, my face like a sodden pie. | 11 | ········/˘· |
| So I cursed and cursed: You damned old thing | 9 | ········· |
| You cowardly dog! You rotten pauper! | 10 | ·/˘˘··/˘/˘ |
| You Rhodes’ slave! Till Roger Baughman | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Thought I was having a fight with some one, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And looked through the transom just in time | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| To see me fall on the floor in a heap | 10 | ·········· |
| From a broken vein in my head. | 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.