Isa Nutter
Doc Meyers said I had satyriasis,And Doc Hill called it leucæmia—But I know what brought me here:I was sixty-four but strong as a manOf thirty-five or forty.And it wasn’t writing a letter a day,And it wasn’t late hours seven nights a week,And it wasn’t the strain of thinking of Minnie,And it wasn’t fear or a jealous dread,Or the endless task of trying to fathomHer wonderful mind, or sympathyFor the wretched life she ledWith her first and second husband—It was none of these that laid me low—But the clamor of daughters and threats of sons,And the sneers and curses of all my kinRight up to the day I sneaked to PeoriaAnd married Minnie in spite of them—And why do you wonder my will was madeFor the best and purest of women?
Words in this poem
- satyriasis n.
- Immoderate venereal appetite in the male. Quain. [L., fr. Gr. Satyr.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Isa Nutter 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, Isa Nutter, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/isa-nutter.html, id L07817.
Form and metre
Isa Nutter is 20 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 71%). 82% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.6 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 35% 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---B---B satyriasis · leucæmia · here · man · forty · day · week · minnie · dreadA · fathom · sympathy · ledA · husband · low · sons · kinB · peoria · them · made · womenB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Doc Meyers said I had satyriasis, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And Doc Hill called it leucæmia— | 8 | ········ |
| But I know what brought me here: | 7 | ······· |
| I was sixty-four but strong as a man | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| Of thirty-five or forty. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| And it wasn’t writing a letter a day, | 11 | ··/˘/˘·/˘·· |
| And it wasn’t late hours seven nights a week, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘/˘··· |
| And it wasn’t the strain of thinking of Minnie, | 12 | ··/˘···/˘·/˘ |
| And it wasn’t fear or a jealous dread, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Or the endless task of trying to fathom | 11 | ··/˘··/˘·/˘ |
| Her wonderful mind, or sympathy | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘˘ |
| For the wretched life she led | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| With her first and second husband— | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| It was none of these that laid me low— | 9 | ········· |
| But the clamor of daughters and threats of sons, | 11 | ··/˘·/˘···· |
| And the sneers and curses of all my kin | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Right up to the day I sneaked to Peoria | 12 | ········˘/˘˘ |
| And married Minnie in spite of them— | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| And why do you wonder my will was made | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| For the best and purest of women? | 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.