Willie Pennington
They called me the weakling, the simpleton,For my brothers were strong and beautiful,While I, the last child of parents who had aged,Inherited only their residue of power.But they, my brothers, were eaten upIn the fury of the flesh, which I had not,Made pulp in the activity of the senses, which I had not,Hardened by the growth of the lusts, which I had not,Though making names and riches for themselves.Then I, the weak one, the simpleton,Resting in a little corner of life,Saw a vision, and through me many saw the vision,Not knowing it was through me.Thus a tree sprangFrom me, a mustard seed.
Words in this poem
- weakling n.
- A weak or feeble creature. [Weak + -ling.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Willie Pennington 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, Willie Pennington, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/willie-pennington.html, id L07948.
Form and metre
Willie Pennington is 15 lines in a single stanza. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 72%). 82% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 13% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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----BBB-A----- simpletonA · beautiful · aged · power · up · notB · notB · notB · themselves · simpletonA · life · vision · me · sprang · seed
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 trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| They called me the weakling, the simpleton, | 10 | ····/˘·/˘˘ |
| For my brothers were strong and beautiful, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘˘ |
| While I, the last child of parents who had aged, | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| Inherited only their residue of power. | 13 | ˘/˘˘/˘·/˘··/˘ |
| But they, my brothers, were eaten up | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| In the fury of the flesh, which I had not, | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Made pulp in the activity of the senses, which I had not, | 16 | ····˘/˘˘··/˘···· |
| Hardened by the growth of the lusts, which I had not, | 12 | /˘·········· |
| Though making names and riches for themselves. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Then I, the weak one, the simpleton, | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| Resting in a little corner of life, | 10 | /˘··/˘/˘·· |
| Saw a vision, and through me many saw the vision, | 13 | ··/˘···/˘··/˘ |
| Not knowing it was through me. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Thus a tree sprang | 4 | ···· |
| From me, a mustard seed. | 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.