Sersmith the Dentist
Do you think that odes and sermons,And the ringing of church bells,And the blood of old men and young men,Martyred for the truth they sawWith eyes made bright by faith in God,Accomplished the world’s great reformations?Do you think that the Battle Hymn of the RepublicWould have been heard if the chattel slaveHad crowned the dominant dollar,In spite of Whitney’s cotton gin,And steam and rolling mills and ironAnd telegraphs and white free labor?Do you think that Daisy FraserHad been put out and driven outIf the canning works had never neededHer little house and lot?Or do you think the poker roomOf Johnnie Taylor, and Burchard’s barHad been closed up if the money lostAnd spent for beer had not been turned,By closing them, to Thomas RhodesFor larger sales of shoes and blankets,And children’s cloaks and gold-oak cradles?Why, a moral truth is a hollow toothWhich must be propped with gold.
Words in this poem
- republic n.
- Common weal. B. Jonson. [F. république, L. respublica commonwealth; res a thing, an affair + publicus, publica, public. See Real, a., and Public.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sersmith the Dentist 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, Sersmith the Dentist, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/sersmith-the-dentist.html, id L07801.
Form and metre
Sersmith the Dentist is 25 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.5 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 48% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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-------------- sermons · bells · men · saw · god · reformations · republic · slave · dollar · ginA · ironA · labor · fraser · out · needed · lot · room · bar · lost · turned · rhodes · blankets · cradles · tooth · gold
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Do you think that odes and sermons, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And the ringing of church bells, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And the blood of old men and young men, | 9 | ········· |
| Martyred for the truth they saw | 7 | /˘····· |
| With eyes made bright by faith in God, | 8 | ········ |
| Accomplished the world’s great reformations? | 10 | ˘/˘····˘/˘ |
| Do you think that the Battle Hymn of the Republic | 13 | ·····/˘···˘/˘ |
| Would have been heard if the chattel slave | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Had crowned the dominant dollar, | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| In spite of Whitney’s cotton gin, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And steam and rolling mills and iron | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| And telegraphs and white free labor? | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Do you think that Daisy Fraser | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Had been put out and driven out | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| If the canning works had never needed | 10 | ··/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Her little house and lot? | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Or do you think the poker room | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of Johnnie Taylor, and Burchard’s bar | 9 | ·/˘/˘·˘/· |
| Had been closed up if the money lost | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And spent for beer had not been turned, | 8 | ········ |
| By closing them, to Thomas Rhodes | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| For larger sales of shoes and blankets, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| And children’s cloaks and gold-oak cradles? | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Why, a moral truth is a hollow tooth | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Which must be propped with gold. | 6 | ······ |
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.