Searcy Foote
I wanted to go away to collegeBut rich Aunt Persis wouldn’t help me.So I made gardens and raked the lawnsAnd bought John Alden’s books with my earningsAnd toiled for the very means of life.I wanted to marry Delia Prickett,But how could I do it with what I earned?And there was Aunt Persis more than seventyWho sat in a wheel-chair half aliveWith her throat so paralyzed, when she swallowedThe soup ran out of her mouth like a duck—A gourmand yet, investing her incomeIn mortgages, fretting all the timeAbout her notes and rents and papers.That day I was sawing wood for her,And reading Proudhon in between.I went in the house for a drink of water,And there she sat asleep in her chair,And Proudhon lying on the table,And a bottle of chloroform on the book,She used sometimes for an aching tooth!I poured the chloroform on a handkerchiefAnd held it to her nose till she died.—Oh Delia, Delia, you and ProudhonSteadied my hand, and the coronerSaid she died of heart failure.I married Delia and got the money—A joke on you, Spoon River?
Words in this poem
- persis n.
- A kind of coloring matter obtained from lichens. [Etymol. uncertain.]
- prickett n.
- A buck in his second year. See Note under 3d Buck. [Perhaps so called from the state of his horns. See Prick, and cf. Brocket.]
- gourmand n.
- A greedy or ravenous eater; a glutton. See Gormand. [F.]
- income n.
- A coming in; entrance; admittance; ingress; infusion.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- aching a.
- That aches; continuously painful. See Ache.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Searcy Foote 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, Searcy Foote, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/searcy-foote.html, id L07873.
Form and metre
Searcy Foote is 28 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%). 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.4 syllables. 13 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 39% 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 --------------------------AA college · me · lawns · earnings · life · prickett · earned · seventy · alive · swallowed · duck · income · time · papers · her · between · water · chair · table · book · tooth · handkerchief · died · proudhon · coroner · failure · moneyA · riverA
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 wanted to go away to college | 10 | ·/˘··˘/·/˘ |
| But rich Aunt Persis wouldn’t help me. | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| So I made gardens and raked the lawns | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And bought John Alden’s books with my earnings | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
| And toiled for the very means of life. | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| I wanted to marry Delia Prickett, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘/˘/˘ |
| But how could I do it with what I earned? | 10 | ·········· |
| And there was Aunt Persis more than seventy | 10 | ····/˘··/˘ |
| Who sat in a wheel-chair half alive | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| With her throat so paralyzed, when she swallowed | 11 | ····/˘···/˘ |
| The soup ran out of her mouth like a duck— | 10 | ·········· |
| A gourmand yet, investing her income | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·/· |
| In mortgages, fretting all the time | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘··· |
| About her notes and rents and papers. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| That day I was sawing wood for her, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| And reading Proudhon in between. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I went in the house for a drink of water, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| And there she sat asleep in her chair, | 9 | ····˘/··· |
| And Proudhon lying on the table, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| And a bottle of chloroform on the book, | 11 | ··/˘·/˘···· |
| She used sometimes for an aching tooth! | 9 | ··/···/˘· |
| I poured the chloroform on a handkerchief | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
| And held it to her nose till she died.— | 9 | ········· |
| Oh Delia, Delia, you and Proudhon | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Steadied my hand, and the coroner | 9 | /˘····/˘˘ |
| Said she died of heart failure. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| I married Delia and got the money— | 10 | ·/˘/˘···/˘ |
| A joke on you, Spoon River? | 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.