Paul McNeely
Dear Jane! dear winsome Jane!How you stole in the room (where I lay so ill)In your nurse’s cap and linen cuffs,And took my hand and said with a smile:“You are not so ill—you’ll soon be well.”And how the liquid thought of your eyesSank in my eyes like dew that slipsInto the heart of a flower.Dear Jane! the whole McNeely fortuneCould not have bought your care of me,By day and night, and night and day;Nor paid for your smile, nor the warmth of your soul,In your little hands laid on my brow.Jane, till the flame of life went outIn the dark above the disk of nightI longed and hoped to be well againTo pillow my head on your little breasts,And hold you fast in a clasp of love—Did my father provide for you when he died,Jane, dear Jane?
Words in this poem
- jane n.
- A coin of Genoa; any small coin. [LL. Janua Genoa; L. Genua, also OE. Jean.]
- winsome a.
- Cheerful; merry; gay; light-hearted. [AS. wynsum, fr. wynn joy; akin to OS. wunnia, OHG. wunna, wunni, G. wonne, Goth. wunan to rejoice (in unwunands sad), AS. wunian to dwell. Win, v. t., Wont, a.]
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Paul McNeely 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, Paul McNeely, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/paul-mcneely.html, id L07829.
Form and metre
Paul McNeely is 20 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.7 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% 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---A janeA · ill · cuffs · smile · well · eyes · slips · flower · fortune · me · day · soul · brow · out · night · againA · breasts · love · died · janeA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dear Jane! dear winsome Jane! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| How you stole in the room (where I lay so ill) | 11 | ··········· |
| In your nurse’s cap and linen cuffs, | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| And took my hand and said with a smile: | 9 | ········· |
| “You are not so ill—you’ll soon be well.” | 9 | ········· |
| And how the liquid thought of your eyes | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Sank in my eyes like dew that slips | 8 | ········ |
| Into the heart of a flower. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Dear Jane! the whole McNeely fortune | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| Could not have bought your care of me, | 8 | ········ |
| By day and night, and night and day; | 8 | ········ |
| Nor paid for your smile, nor the warmth of your soul, | 11 | ··········· |
| In your little hands laid on my brow. | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Jane, till the flame of life went out | 8 | ········ |
| In the dark above the disk of night | 9 | ········· |
| I longed and hoped to be well again | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| To pillow my head on your little breasts, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And hold you fast in a clasp of love— | 9 | ········· |
| Did my father provide for you when he died, | 11 | ··/˘˘/····· |
| Jane, dear Jane? | 3 | ··· |
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.