Thomas Ross, Jr
This I saw with my own eyes: A cliff—swallowMade her nest in a hole of the high clay-bankThere near Miller’s Ford.But no sooner were the young hatchedThan a snake crawled up to the nestTo devour the brood.Then the mother swallow with swift flutteringsAnd shrill criesFought at the snake,Blinding him with the beat of her wings,Until he, wriggling and rearing his head,Fell backward down the bankInto Spoon River and was drowned.Scarcely an hour passedUntil a shrikeImpaled the mother swallow on a thorn.As for myself I overcame my lower natureOnly to be destroyed by my brother’s ambition.
I had no objection at allTo selling my household effects at auctionOn the village square.It gave my beloved flock the chanceTo get something which had belonged to meFor a memorial.But that trunk which was struck offTo Burchard, the grog-keeper!Did you know it contained the manuscriptsOf a lifetime of sermons?And he burned them as waste paper.
Words in this poem
- lifetime n.
- The time that life continues.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Thomas Ross, Jr 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, Thomas Ross, Jr, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/thomas-ross-jr.html, id L07821.
Form and metre
Thomas Ross, Jr is 29 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 55% 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 -A----B--B-A------ swallow · bankA · ford · hatched · nest · brood · flutteringsB · cries · snake · wingsB · head · bankA · drowned · passed · shrike · thorn · nature · ambition
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 |
|---|---|---|
| This I saw with my own eyes: A cliff—swallow | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Made her nest in a hole of the high clay-bank | 11 | ··········· |
| There near Miller’s Ford. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| But no sooner were the young hatched | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Than a snake crawled up to the nest | 8 | ········ |
| To devour the brood. | 6 | ·˘/˘·· |
| Then the mother swallow with swift flutterings | 11 | ··/˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| And shrill cries | 3 | ··· |
| Fought at the snake, | 4 | ···· |
| Blinding him with the beat of her wings, | 9 | /˘······· |
| Until he, wriggling and rearing his head, | 11 | ···/˘˘·/˘·· |
| Fell backward down the bank | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Into Spoon River and was drowned. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Scarcely an hour passed | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Until a shrike | 4 | ···· |
| Impaled the mother swallow on a thorn. | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘··· |
| As for myself I overcame my lower nature | 13 | ···/·/˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Only to be destroyed by my brother’s ambition. | 13 | /˘··˘/··/˘˘/˘ |
| I had no objection at all | 8 | ···˘/˘·· |
| To selling my household effects at auction | 11 | ·/˘·/·˘/·/˘ |
| On the village square. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| It gave my beloved flock the chance | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| To get something which had belonged to me | 10 | ··/˘··˘/·· |
| For a memorial. | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| But that trunk which was struck off | 7 | ······· |
| To Burchard, the grog-keeper! | 7 | ·˘/··/˘ |
| Did you know it contained the manuscripts | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| Of a lifetime of sermons? | 7 | ··/··/˘ |
| And he burned them as waste paper. | 8 | ······/˘ |
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.