Lambert Hutchins
I have two monuments besides this granite obelisk:One, the house I built on the hill,With its spires, bay windows, and roof of slate.The other, the lake-front in Chicago,Where the railroad keeps a switching yard,With whistling engines and crunching wheelsAnd smoke and soot thrown over the city,And the crash of cars along the boulevard,—A blot like a hog-pen on the harborOf a great metropolis, foul as a sty.I helped to give this heritageTo generations yet unborn, with my voteIn the House of Representatives,And the lure of the thing was to be at restFrom the never—ending fright of need,And to give my daughters gentle breeding,And a sense of security in life.But, you see, though I had the mansion houseAnd traveling passes and local distinction,I could hear the whispers, whispers, whispers,Wherever I went, and my daughters grew upWith a look as if some one were about to strike them;And they married madly, helter-skelter,Just to get out and have a change.And what was the whole of the business worth?Why, it wasn’t worth a damn!
Words in this poem
- switching a.
- from Switch, v. Switching engine, a locomotive for switching cars from one track to another, and making up trains; -- called also switch engine. [U.S.]
- boulevard n.
- Originally, a bulwark or rampart of fortification or fortified town. [F. boulevard, boulevart, fr. G. bollwerk. See Bulwark.]
- heritage a.
- That which is inherited, or passes from heir to heir; inheritance. [OE. heritage, eritage, OF. heritage, eritage, F. héritage, fr. hériter to inherit, LL. heriditare. See Hereditable.]
- unborn a.
- Not born; no yet brought into life; being still to appear; future.
- mansion n.
- A dwelling place, -- whether a part or whole of a house or other shelter. [OF. mansion, F. maison, fr. L. mansio a staying, remaining, a dwelling, habitation, fr. manere, mansum, to stay, dwell; akin to Gr. Manse, Manor, Menagerie, Men]
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- madly adv.
- In a mad manner; without reason or understanding; wildly. [From Mad, a.]
- damn v. t.
- To condemn; to declare guilty; to doom; to adjudge to punishment; to sentence; to censhure. [OE. damnen dap), OF. damner, dampner, F. damner, fr. L. damnare, damnatum, to condemn, fr. damnum damage, a fine, penalty. Cf. Condemn, Damage.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lambert Hutchins 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, Lambert Hutchins, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/lambert-hutchins.html, id L07865.
Form and metre
Lambert Hutchins is 26 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 27% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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------------------ obelisk · hill · slate · chicago · yardA · wheels · city · boulevardA · harbor · sty · heritage · vote · representatives · rest · need · breeding · life · house · distinction · whispers · up · them · skelter · change · worth · damn
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 have two monuments besides this granite obelisk: | 14 | ···/˘˘˘/·/˘/˘˘ |
| One, the house I built on the hill, | 8 | ········ |
| With its spires, bay windows, and roof of slate. | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| The other, the lake-front in Chicago, | 10 | ·/˘····˘/· |
| Where the railroad keeps a switching yard, | 9 | ··/···/˘· |
| With whistling engines and crunching wheels | 9 | ·/˘/˘·/˘· |
| And smoke and soot thrown over the city, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| And the crash of cars along the boulevard,— | 11 | ·····˘/·/˘· |
| A blot like a hog-pen on the harbor | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Of a great metropolis, foul as a sty. | 11 | ···˘/˘˘···· |
| I helped to give this heritage | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| To generations yet unborn, with my vote | 11 | ··˘/˘·//··· |
| In the House of Representatives, | 9 | ·····˘/˘˘ |
| And the lure of the thing was to be at rest | 11 | ··········· |
| From the never—ending fright of need, | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| And to give my daughters gentle breeding, | 10 | ····/˘/˘/˘ |
| And a sense of security in life. | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| But, you see, though I had the mansion house | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And traveling passes and local distinction, | 12 | ·/˘˘/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| I could hear the whispers, whispers, whispers, | 10 | ····/˘/˘/˘ |
| Wherever I went, and my daughters grew up | 11 | ˘/˘····/˘·· |
| With a look as if some one were about to strike them; | 13 | ············· |
| And they married madly, helter-skelter, | 10 | ··/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Just to get out and have a change. | 8 | ········ |
| And what was the whole of the business worth? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Why, it wasn’t worth a damn! | 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.