Hannah Armstrong
I wrote him a letter asking him for old times’ sakeTo discharge my sick boy from the army;But maybe he couldn’t read it.Then I went to town and had James Garber,Who wrote beautifully, write him a letter.But maybe that was lost in the mails.So I traveled all the way to Washington.I was more than an hour finding the White House.And when I found it they turned me away,Hiding their smiles.Then I thought: “Oh, well, he ain’t the same as when I boarded himAnd he and my husband worked togetherAnd all of us called him Abe, there in Menard.”As a last attempt I turned to a guard and said:“Please say it’s old Aunt Hannah ArmstrongFrom Illinois, come to see him about her sick boyIn the army.”Well, just in a moment they let me in!And when he saw me he broke in a laugh,And dropped his business as president,And wrote in his own hand Doug’s discharge,Talking the while of the early days,And telling stories.
Words in this poem
- wrote v. i.
- To root with the snout. See 1st Root. [OE. wroten. See 1st Root.]
- maybe adv.
- Perhaps; possibly; peradventure. [For it may be.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- illinois n.
- A tribe of North American Indians, which formerly occupied the region between the Wabash and Mississippi rivers.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hannah Armstrong 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, Hannah Armstrong, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/hannah-armstrong.html, id L07929.
Form and metre
Hannah Armstrong is 23 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.7 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 22% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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--------------A----BB sake · armyA · it · garber · letter · mails · washington · house · away · smiles · him · together · menard · said · armstrong · boy · armyA · in · laugh · president · discharge · daysB · storiesB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I wrote him a letter asking him for old times’ sake | 13 | ····/˘/˘····· |
| To discharge my sick boy from the army; | 10 | ·˘/·····/˘ |
| But maybe he couldn’t read it. | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| Then I went to town and had James Garber, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Who wrote beautifully, write him a letter. | 10 | ··/˘˘···/˘ |
| But maybe that was lost in the mails. | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| So I traveled all the way to Washington. | 11 | ··/˘····/˘˘ |
| I was more than an hour finding the White House. | 12 | ·····/˘/˘··· |
| And when I found it they turned me away, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Hiding their smiles. | 4 | /˘·· |
| Then I thought: “Oh, well, he ain’t the same as when I boarded him | 15 | ············/˘· |
| And he and my husband worked together | 10 | ····/˘·˘/˘ |
| And all of us called him Abe, there in Menard.” | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| As a last attempt I turned to a guard and said: | 12 | ···˘/······· |
| “Please say it’s old Aunt Hannah Armstrong | 9 | ·····/˘/· |
| From Illinois, come to see him about her sick boy | 13 | ··˘/········· |
| In the army.” | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Well, just in a moment they let me in! | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| And when he saw me he broke in a laugh, | 10 | ·········· |
| And dropped his business as president, | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| And wrote in his own hand Doug’s discharge, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Talking the while of the early days, | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| And telling stories. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
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.