Song of the Wooden-Legged Fiddler (Portsmouth 1805)
I lived in a cottage adown in the WestWhen I was a boy, a boy;But I knew no peace and I took no restThough the roses nigh smothered my snug little nest;For the smell of the seaWas much rarer to me,And the life of a sailor was all my joy.
My mother she wept, and she begged me to stayAnchored for life to her apron-string,And soon she would want me to help with the hay;So I bided her time, then I flitted awayOn a night of delight in the following spring,With a pair of stout shoonAnd a seafaring tuneAnd a bundle and stick in the light of the moon,Down the long roadTo Portsmouth I strode,To fight like a sailor for country and king.
And now that my feet are turned homeward againMy heart is still crying Ahoy! Ahoy!And my thoughts are still out on the Spanish mainA-chasing the frigates of France and Spain,For at heart an old sailor is always a boy;And his nose will still itchFor the powder and pitchTill the days when he can't tell t'other from which,Nor a grin o' the guns from a glint o' the sea,Nor a skipper like Nelson from lubbers like me.
Ay! Now that I'm old I'm as bold as the best,And the life of a sailor is all my joy;Though I've swapped my legFor a wooden pegAnd my head is as bald as a new-laid egg,The smell of the seaIs like victuals to me,And I think in the grave I'll be crying Ahoy!For, though my old carcass is ready to rest,At heart an old sailor is always a boy.
Words in this poem
- adown adv.
- From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [OE. adun, adoun, adune. AS. of dune off the hill. See Down.]
- anchored a.
- Held by an anchor; at anchor; held safely; as, an anchored bark; also, shaped like an anchor; forked; as, an anchored tongue.
- seafaring a.
- Following the business of a mariner; as, a seafaring man.
- homeward a.
- Being in the direction of home; as, the homeward way.
- ahoy interj.
- A term used in hailing; as, [OE. a, interj. + hoy.]
- grin n.
- A snare; a gin. [AS. grin.]
- glint n.
- A glimpse, glance, or gleam. [OE. glent.]
- skipper n.
- One who, or that which, skips.
- carcass n.
- A dead body, whether of man or beast; a corpse; now commonly the dead body of a beast. [F. carcasse, fr. It. carcassa, fr. L. caro flesh + capsa chest, box, case. Cf. Carnal, Case a sheath.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song of the Wooden-Legged Fiddler (Portsmouth 1805) is in the public domain. This text is taken from Collected Poems: Volume One, Project Gutenberg ebook #30501; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Alfred Noyes, Song of the Wooden-Legged Fiddler (Portsmouth 1805), in Collected Poems, Volume One (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #30501, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/noyes-collected/song-of-the-wooden-legged-fiddler-portsmouth-1805.html, id L21420.
Form and metre
Song of the Wooden-Legged Fiddler (Portsmouth 1805) is 38 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 53% of the lines. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in anapaestic 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 ABAACCB westA · boyB · restA · nestA · seaC · meC · joyB
- 2 ABAABCCCDDB stayA · stringB · hayA · awayA · springB · shoonC · tuneC · moonC · roadD · strodeD · kingB
- 3 ABAABCCCDD againA · ahoyB · mainA · spainA · boyB · itchC · pitchC · whichC · seaD · meD
- 4 ABCCCDDBAB bestA · joyB · legC · pegC · eggC · seaD · meD · ahoyB · restA · boyB
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I lived in a cottage adown in the West | 11 | ····/˘˘/··· |
| When I was a boy, a boy; | 7 | ······· |
| But I knew no peace and I took no rest | 10 | ·········· |
| Though the roses nigh smothered my snug little nest; | 12 | ··/˘·/˘··/˘· |
| For the smell of the sea | 6 | ······ |
| Was much rarer to me, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| And the life of a sailor was all my joy. | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| My mother she wept, and she begged me to stay | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Anchored for life to her apron-string, | 10 | /˘˘····/˘· |
| And soon she would want me to help with the hay; | 11 | ··········· |
| So I bided her time, then I flitted away | 12 | ········/˘˘/ |
| On a night of delight in the following spring, | 11 | ····˘/··/˘· |
| With a pair of stout shoon | 6 | ······ |
| And a seafaring tune | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And a bundle and stick in the light of the moon, | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| Down the long road | 4 | ···· |
| To Portsmouth I strode, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| To fight like a sailor for country and king. | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| And now that my feet are turned homeward again | 11 | ·······/˘˘/ |
| My heart is still crying Ahoy! Ahoy! | 10 | ····/˘˘/˘/ |
| And my thoughts are still out on the Spanish main | 11 | ········/˘· |
| A-chasing the frigates of France and Spain, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| For at heart an old sailor is always a boy; | 12 | ·····/˘·/··· |
| And his nose will still itch | 6 | ······ |
| For the powder and pitch | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Till the days when he can't tell t'other from which, | 12 | ·······˘/˘·· |
| Nor a grin o' the guns from a glint o' the sea, | 12 | ············ |
| Nor a skipper like Nelson from lubbers like me. | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Ay! Now that I'm old I'm as bold as the best, | 11 | ··········· |
| And the life of a sailor is all my joy; | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Though I've swapped my leg | 5 | ····· |
| For a wooden peg | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And my head is as bald as a new-laid egg, | 11 | ··········· |
| The smell of the sea | 5 | ····· |
| Is like victuals to me, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| And I think in the grave I'll be crying Ahoy! | 12 | ········/˘˘/ |
| For, though my old carcass is ready to rest, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| At heart an old sailor is always a boy. | 11 | ····/˘·/··· |
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.