Hod Putt
Here I lie close to the graveOf Old Bill Piersol,Who grew rich trading with the Indians, and whoAfterwards took the Bankrupt LawAnd emerged from it richer than everMyself grown tired of toil and povertyAnd beholding how Old Bill and others grew in wealthRobbed a traveler one Night near Proctor’s Grove,Killing him unwittingly while doing so,For which I was tried and hanged.That was my way of going into bankruptcy.Now we who took the bankrupt law in our respective waysSleep peacefully side by side.
Words in this poem
- beholding a.
- Obliged; beholden.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- bankruptcy n.
- The state of being actually or legally bankrupt.
- respective a.
- Noticing with attention; hence, careful; wary; considerate. [Cf. F. respectif, LL. respectivus. See Respect.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hod Putt 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, Hod Putt, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/hod-putt.html, id L07743.
Form and metre
Hod Putt is 13 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 80% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 54% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Here I lie close to the grave | 7 | ······· |
| Of Old Bill Piersol, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Who grew rich trading with the Indians, and who | 12 | ···/˘··/˘˘·· |
| Afterwards took the Bankrupt Law | 8 | /˘˘··/˘· |
| And emerged from it richer than ever | 10 | ·˘/··/˘·/˘ |
| Myself grown tired of toil and poverty | 11 | ·/·/˘···/˘˘ |
| And beholding how Old Bill and others grew in wealth | 13 | ·˘/˘····/˘··· |
| Robbed a traveler one Night near Proctor’s Grove, | 11 | ··/˘˘···/˘· |
| Killing him unwittingly while doing so, | 11 | /˘·˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| For which I was tried and hanged. | 7 | ······· |
| That was my way of going into bankruptcy. | 12 | ·····/˘··/˘˘ |
| Now we who took the bankrupt law in our respective ways | 15 | ·····/˘··/˘˘/˘· |
| Sleep peacefully side by side. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
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.