Shoes and Stockings
There’s a cavern in the mountain where the old men meet(Hammer, hammer, hammer . . .Hammer, hammer, hammer . . .)They make gold slippers for my lady’s feet(Hammer, hammer, hammer . . .Hammer, hammer, hammer . . .)My lady is marrying her own true knight,White her gown, and her veil is white,But she must have slippers on her dainty feet.Hammer, hammer hammer . . .Hammer.
There’s a cottage by the river where the old wives meet(Chatter, chatter, chatter . . .Chatter, chatter, chatter . . .)
They weave gold stockings for my lady’s feet(Chatter, chatter, chatter . . .Chatter, chatter, chatter . . .)My lady is going to her own true man,Youth to youth, since the world began,But she must have stockings on her dainty feet.Chatter, chatter, chatter . . .Chatter.
Words in this poem
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Shoes and Stockings is in the public domain. This text is taken from When We Were Very Young, Project Gutenberg ebook #70271; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: A. A. Milne, Shoes and Stockings, in When We Were Very Young (1924), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70271, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/milne-when-we-were-very-young/shoes-and-stockings.html, id L27204.
Form and metre
Shoes and Stockings is 22 lines in 3 stanzas.
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 ABBABBCCABB meetA · hammerB · hammerB · feetA · hammerB · hammerB · knightC · whiteC · feetA · hammerB · hammerB
- 2 -AA meet · chatterA · chatterA
- 3 ABBCCABB feetA · chatterB · chatterB · manC · beganC · feetA · chatterB · chatterB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| There’s a cavern in the mountain where the old men meet | 13 | ··/˘··/˘····· |
| (Hammer, hammer, hammer . . . | 6 | /˘/˘/˘ |
| Hammer, hammer, hammer . . .) | 6 | /˘/˘/˘ |
| They make gold slippers for my lady’s feet | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| (Hammer, hammer, hammer . . . | 6 | /˘/˘/˘ |
| Hammer, hammer, hammer . . .) | 6 | /˘/˘/˘ |
| My lady is marrying her own true knight, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| White her gown, and her veil is white, | 8 | ········ |
| But she must have slippers on her dainty feet. | 11 | ····/˘··/˘· |
| Hammer, hammer hammer . . . | 6 | /˘/˘/˘ |
| Hammer. | 2 | /˘ |
| There’s a cottage by the river where the old wives meet | 13 | ··/˘··/˘····· |
| (Chatter, chatter, chatter . . . | 6 | /˘/˘/˘ |
| Chatter, chatter, chatter . . .) | 6 | /˘/˘/˘ |
| They weave gold stockings for my lady’s feet | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| (Chatter, chatter, chatter . . . | 6 | /˘/˘/˘ |
| Chatter, chatter, chatter . . .) | 6 | /˘/˘/˘ |
| My lady is going to her own true man, | 10 | ·/˘·/····· |
| Youth to youth, since the world began, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| But she must have stockings on her dainty feet. | 11 | ····/˘··/˘· |
| Chatter, chatter, chatter . . . | 6 | /˘/˘/˘ |
| Chatter. | 2 | /˘ |
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.