Master and Man
Do ye ken hoo to fush for the salmon?If ye'll listen I'll tell ye.Dinna trust to the books and their gammon,They're but trying to sell ye.Leave professors to read their ain cackleAnd fush their ain style;Come awa', sir, we'll oot wi' oor tackleAnd be busy the while.
'Tis a wee bit ower bright, ye were thinkin'?Aw, ye'll no be the loser;'Tis better ten baskin' and blinkin'Than ane that's a cruiser.If ye're bent, as I tak it, on slatter,Ye should pray for the droot,For the salmon's her ain when there's watter,But she's oors when it's oot.
Ye may just put your flee-book behind ye,Ane hook wull be plenty;If they'll no come for this, my man, mind ye,They'll no come for twenty.
Ay, a rod; but the shorter the strangerAnd the nearer to strike;For myself I prefare it nae langerThan a yard or the like.
Noo, ye'll stand awa' back while I'm creepin'Wi' my snoot i' the gowans;There's a bonny twalve-poonder a-sleepin'I' the shade o' yon rowans.Man, man! I was fearin' I'd stirred her,But I've got her the noo!Hoot! fushin's as easy as murrderWhen ye ken what to do.
Na, na, sir, I doot na ye're willin'But I canna permit ye,For I'm thinkin' that yon kind o' killin'Wad hardly befit ye.And some work is deefficult hushin',There'd be havers and chaff:'Twull be best, sir, for you to be fushin'And me wi' the gaff.
Words in this poem
- gammon n.
- The buttock or tight of a hog, salted and smoked or dried; the lower end of a flitch. Goldsmith. [OF. gambon, F. jambon, fr. OF. gambe leg, F. jambe. See Gambol, n., and cf. Ham.]
- cackle v. i.
- To make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does. [OE. cakelen; cf. LG. kakeln, D. kakelen, G. gackeln, gackern; all of imitative origin. Cf. Gagle, Cake to cackle.]
- loser n.
- One who loses. South.
- cruiser n.
- One who, or a vessel that, cruises; -- usually an armed vessel.
- slatter v. i.
- To be careless, negligent, or aswkward, esp. with regard to dress and neatness; to be wasteful. Ray. [E. slat to throw or dash about.]
- bonny a.
- Handsome; beautiful; pretty; attractively lively and graceful. [OE. boni, prob. fr. F. bon, fem. bonne, good, fr. L. bonus good. See Bounty, and cf. Bonus, Boon.]
- hoot v. i.
- To cry out or shout in contempt. [OE. hoten, houten, huten; cf. OSw. huta, Sw. huta ut to take one up sharply, fr. Sw. hut interj., begone! cf. also W. hwt off! off with it! away! hoot!]
- canna n.
- A measure of length in Italy, varying from six to seven feet. [It.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Master and Man is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems: New and Old, Project Gutenberg ebook #24405; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry John Newbolt, Master and Man, in Poems: New and Old (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #24405, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/newbolt-poems/master-and-man.html, id L11504.
Form and metre
Master and Man is 40 lines in 6 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 3 of its 6 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 15 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% 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 ABABCDCD salmonA · yeB · gammonA · yeB · cackleC · styleD · tackleC · whileD
- 2 ABABCDCD thinkinA · loserB · blinkinA · cruiserB · slatterC · drootD · watterC · ootD
- 3 ABAB yeA · plentyB · yeA · twentyB
- 4 -A-A stranger · strikeA · langer · likeA
- 5 A-A----- creepinA · gowans · sleepinA · rowans · her · noo · murrder · do
- 6 ABABCDCD willinA · yeB · killinA · yeB · hushinC · chaffD · fushinC · gaffD
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 ye ken hoo to fush for the salmon? | 10 | ········/˘ |
| If ye'll listen I'll tell ye. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Dinna trust to the books and their gammon, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| They're but trying to sell ye. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Leave professors to read their ain cackle | 10 | ·˘/˘····/˘ |
| And fush their ain style; | 5 | ····· |
| Come awa', sir, we'll oot wi' oor tackle | 10 | ········/˘ |
| And be busy the while. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| 'Tis a wee bit ower bright, ye were thinkin'? | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Aw, ye'll no be the loser; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| 'Tis better ten baskin' and blinkin' | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| Than ane that's a cruiser. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| If ye're bent, as I tak it, on slatter, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Ye should pray for the droot, | 6 | ······ |
| For the salmon's her ain when there's watter, | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| But she's oors when it's oot. | 6 | ······ |
| Ye may just put your flee-book behind ye, | 10 | ·········· |
| Ane hook wull be plenty; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| If they'll no come for this, my man, mind ye, | 10 | ·········· |
| They'll no come for twenty. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Ay, a rod; but the shorter the stranger | 10 | ·····/˘·/˘ |
| And the nearer to strike; | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| For myself I prefare it nae langer | 10 | ··/·····/˘ |
| Than a yard or the like. | 6 | ······ |
| Noo, ye'll stand awa' back while I'm creepin' | 10 | ·········· |
| Wi' my snoot i' the gowans; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| There's a bonny twalve-poonder a-sleepin' | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| I' the shade o' yon rowans. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Man, man! I was fearin' I'd stirred her, | 10 | ········˘· |
| But I've got her the noo! | 6 | ······ |
| Hoot! fushin's as easy as murrder | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| When ye ken what to do. | 6 | ······ |
| Na, na, sir, I doot na ye're willin' | 9 | ········· |
| But I canna permit ye, | 7 | ··/˘/·· |
| For I'm thinkin' that yon kind o' killin' | 10 | ··/˘····/˘ |
| Wad hardly befit ye. | 6 | ·/˘˘/· |
| And some work is deefficult hushin', | 9 | ········· |
| There'd be havers and chaff: | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| 'Twull be best, sir, for you to be fushin' | 10 | ·········· |
| And me wi' the gaff. | 5 | ····· |
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.