Josiah Tompkins
I was well known and much belovedAnd rich, as fortunes are reckonedIn Spoon River, where I had lived and worked.That was the home for me,Though all my children had flown afar—Which is the way of Nature—all but one.The boy, who was the baby, stayed at home,To be my help in my failing yearsAnd the solace of his mother.But I grew weaker, as he grew stronger,And he quarreled with me about the business,And his wife said I was a hindrance to it;And he won his mother to see as he did,Till they tore me up to be transplantedWith them to her girlhood home in Missouri.And so much of my fortune was gone at last,Though I made the will just as he drew it,He profited little by it.
Words in this poem
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- stayed a.
- Staid; fixed; settled; sober; -- now written staid. See Staid.
- solace n.
- Comfort in grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety; also, that which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; relief. [OF. solas, ssoulaz, L. solacium, solatium, fr. solari to comfort, console. Cf. Console, v. t.]
- tore n.
- The dead grass that remains on mowing land in winter and spring. Mortimer. [Probably from the root of tear; cf. W. tór a break, cut, tóri to break, cut.]
- girlhood n.
- State or time of being a girl.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Josiah Tompkins 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, Josiah Tompkins, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/josiah-tompkins.html, id L07861.
Form and metre
Josiah Tompkins is 18 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%). 85% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.5 syllables. 6 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 -----------ABB--AA beloved · reckoned · worked · me · afar · one · home · years · mother · stronger · business · itA · didB · transplantedB · missouri · last · itA · itA
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 was well known and much beloved | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And rich, as fortunes are reckoned | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| In Spoon River, where I had lived and worked. | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| That was the home for me, | 6 | ······ |
| Though all my children had flown afar— | 9 | ···/˘··˘/ |
| Which is the way of Nature—all but one. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The boy, who was the baby, stayed at home, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To be my help in my failing years | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And the solace of his mother. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| But I grew weaker, as he grew stronger, | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
| And he quarreled with me about the business, | 11 | ··/˘·····/˘ |
| And his wife said I was a hindrance to it; | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| And he won his mother to see as he did, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Till they tore me up to be transplanted | 10 | ·······˘/˘ |
| With them to her girlhood home in Missouri. | 11 | ····/···˘/˘ |
| And so much of my fortune was gone at last, | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Though I made the will just as he drew it, | 10 | ·········· |
| He profited little by it. | 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.