Ida Chicken
After I had attended lecturesAt our Chautauqua, and studied FrenchFor twenty years, committing the grammarAlmost by heart,I thought I’d take a trip to ParisTo give my culture a final polish.So I went to Peoria for a passport—(Thomas Rhodes was on the train that morning.)And there the clerk of the district CourtMade me swear to support and defendThe constitution—yes, even me—Who couldn’t defend or support it at all!And what do you think? That very morningThe Federal Judge, in the very next roomTo the room where I took the oath,Decided the constitutionExempted Rhodes from paying taxesFor the water works of Spoon River!
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- passport n.
- Permission to pass; a document given by the competent officer of a state, permitting the person therein named to pass or travel from place to place, without molestation, by land or by water. [F. passeport, orig., a permission to leave a port or to sail into it; passer to pass + port a port, harbor. See Pass, and Port a harbor.]
- clerk n.
- A clergyman or ecclesiastic. [Either OF. clerc, fr. L. clericus a priest, or AS. clerc, cleric, clerk, priest, fr. L. clericus, fr. Gr. Clergy.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ida Chicken 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, Ida Chicken, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/ida-chicken.html, id L07834.
Form and metre
Ida Chicken is 18 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%). 78% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.3 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 56% 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 ------ABA---B----- lectures · french · grammar · heart · paris · polish · passportA · morningB · courtA · defend · me · all · morningB · room · oath · constitution · taxes · river
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 |
|---|---|---|
| After I had attended lectures | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| At our Chautauqua, and studied French | 10 | ·/˘˘/˘·/˘· |
| For twenty years, committing the grammar | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·/˘ |
| Almost by heart, | 4 | /··· |
| I thought I’d take a trip to Paris | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| To give my culture a final polish. | 10 | ···/˘·/˘/˘ |
| So I went to Peoria for a passport— | 12 | ····˘/˘˘··/· |
| (Thomas Rhodes was on the train that morning.) | 10 | /˘······/˘ |
| And there the clerk of the district Court | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Made me swear to support and defend | 9 | ····˘/·˘/ |
| The constitution—yes, even me— | 9 | ··˘/˘·/˘· |
| Who couldn’t defend or support it at all! | 11 | ·/˘˘/·˘/··· |
| And what do you think? That very morning | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| The Federal Judge, in the very next room | 11 | ·/˘˘···/˘·· |
| To the room where I took the oath, | 8 | ········ |
| Decided the constitution | 8 | ˘/˘··˘/˘ |
| Exempted Rhodes from paying taxes | 9 | ˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| For the water works of Spoon River! | 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.