Tom Beatty
I was a lawyer like Harmon WhitneyOr Kinsey Keene or Garrison Standard,For I tried the rights of property,Although by lamp-light, for thirty years,In that poker room in the opera house.And I say to you that Life’s a gamblerHead and shoulders above us all.No mayor alive can close the house.And if you lose, you can squeal as you will;You’ll not get back your money.He makes the percentage hard to conquer;He stacks the cards to catch your weaknessAnd not to meet your strength.And he gives you seventy years to play:For if you cannot win in seventyYou cannot win at all.So, if you lose, get out of the room—Get out of the room when your time is up.It’s mean to sit and fumble the cardsAnd curse your losses, leaden-eyed,Whining to try and try.
Words in this poem
- gambler n.
- One who gambles.
- squeal v. i.
- To cry with a sharp, shrill, prolonged sound, as certain animals do, indicating want, displeasure, or pain. [Of Scand. origin; cf. Sw. sqväla, Norw. skvella. Cf. Squeak, Squall.]
- fumble v. i.
- To feel or grope about; to make awkward attempts to do or find something. [Akin to D. fommelen to crumple, fumble, Sw. fumla to fusuble, famla to grope, Dan. famle to grope, fumble, Icel. falme, AS. folm palm of the hand. See Feel, and]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Tom Beatty 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, Tom Beatty, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/tom-beatty.html, id L07871.
Form and metre
Tom Beatty is 21 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.8 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 24% 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-BA---A---B----- whitney · standard · property · years · houseA · gambler · allB · houseA · will · money · conquer · weaknessA · strength · play · seventy · allB · room · up · cards · eyed · try
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 was a lawyer like Harmon Whitney | 10 | ···/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Or Kinsey Keene or Garrison Standard, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| For I tried the rights of property, | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| Although by lamp-light, for thirty years, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| In that poker room in the opera house. | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| And I say to you that Life’s a gambler | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Head and shoulders above us all. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| No mayor alive can close the house. | 9 | ·/˘˘/···· |
| And if you lose, you can squeal as you will; | 10 | ·········· |
| You’ll not get back your money. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| He makes the percentage hard to conquer; | 10 | ···˘/˘··/˘ |
| He stacks the cards to catch your weakness | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And not to meet your strength. | 6 | ······ |
| And he gives you seventy years to play: | 10 | ····/˘˘··· |
| For if you cannot win in seventy | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| You cannot win at all. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| So, if you lose, get out of the room— | 9 | ········· |
| Get out of the room when your time is up. | 10 | ·········· |
| It’s mean to sit and fumble the cards | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| And curse your losses, leaden-eyed, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Whining to try and try. | 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.