Richard Bone
When I first came to Spoon RiverI did not know whether what they told meWas true or false.They would bring me the epitaphAnd stand around the shop while I workedAnd say “He was so kind,” “He was so wonderful,”“She was the sweetest woman,” “He was a consistent Christian.”And I chiseled for them whatever they wished,All in ignorance of the truth.But later, as I lived among the people here,I knew how near to the lifeWere the epitaphs that were ordered for them as they died.But still I chiseled whatever they paid me to chiselAnd made myself party to the false chroniclesOf the stones,Even as the historian does who writesWithout knowing the truth,Or because he is influenced to hide it.
About this text
Richard Bone 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, Richard Bone, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/richard-bone.html, id L07890.
Form and metre
Richard Bone is 18 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 82% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.7 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 44% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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- river · me · false · epitaph · worked · wonderful · christian · wished · truthA · here · life · died · chisel · chronicles · stones · writes · truthA · it
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When I first came to Spoon River | 8 | ······/˘ |
| I did not know whether what they told me | 10 | ·········· |
| Was true or false. | 4 | ···· |
| They would bring me the epitaph | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And stand around the shop while I worked | 9 | ········· |
| And say “He was so kind,” “He was so wonderful,” | 12 | ·········/˘˘ |
| “She was the sweetest woman,” “He was a consistent Christian.” | 15 | ···/˘/˘···˘/˘/˘ |
| And I chiseled for them whatever they wished, | 11 | ··/˘···/˘·· |
| All in ignorance of the truth. | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| But later, as I lived among the people here, | 12 | ·/˘······/˘· |
| I knew how near to the life | 7 | ······· |
| Were the epitaphs that were ordered for them as they died. | 14 | ··/˘···/˘····· |
| But still I chiseled whatever they paid me to chisel | 14 | ···/˘·/˘····/˘ |
| And made myself party to the false chronicles | 12 | ···//˘···/˘˘ |
| Of the stones, | 3 | ··· |
| Even as the historian does who writes | 11 | /˘··˘/˘˘··· |
| Without knowing the truth, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Or because he is influenced to hide it. | 11 | ·····/˘˘··· |
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.