Folk Tune
Other lads, their ways are daring:Other lads, they're not afraid;Other lads, they show they're caring;Other lads--they know a maid.Wiser Jock than ever you were,Will's with gayer spirit blest,Robin's kindlier and truer,--Why should I love you the best?
Other lads, their eyes are bolder.Young they are, and strong and slim,Ned is straight and broad of shoulder,Donald has a way with him.David stands a head above you,Dick's as brave as Lancelot,--Why, ah why, then, should I love you?Naturally, I do not.
About this text
Folk Tune is in the public domain. This text is taken from Enough Rope: Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #68353; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Dorothy Parker, Folk Tune, in Enough Rope (1926), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #68353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/parker-enough-rope/folk-tune.html, id L27368.
Form and metre
Folk Tune is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 daringA · afraidB · caringA · maidB · wereC · blestD · truerC · bestD
- 2 ABABCDCD bolderA · slimB · shoulderA · himB · youC · lancelotD · youC · notD
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Other lads, their ways are daring: | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Other lads, they're not afraid; | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Other lads, they show they're caring; | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Other lads--they know a maid. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Wiser Jock than ever you were, | 8 | /˘··/˘·· |
| Will's with gayer spirit blest, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Robin's kindlier and truer,-- | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| Why should I love you the best? | 7 | ······· |
| Other lads, their eyes are bolder. | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Young they are, and strong and slim, | 7 | ······· |
| Ned is straight and broad of shoulder, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Donald has a way with him. | 7 | /˘····· |
| David stands a head above you, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Dick's as brave as Lancelot,-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Why, ah why, then, should I love you? | 8 | ········ |
| Naturally, I do not. | 7 | /˘˘˘··· |
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.