The Dark Girl's Rhyme
Who was there had seen usWouldn't bid him run?Heavy lay between usAll our sires had done.
There he was, a-springingOf a pious race--Setting hags a-swingingIn a market-place;
Sowing turnips overWhere the poppies lay;Looking past the clover,Adding up the hay;
Shouting through the Spring song,Clumping down the sod;Toadying, in sing-song,To a crabbèd god.
There I was, that came ofFolk of mud and flame--I that had my name ofThem without a name.
Up and down a mountainStreeled my silly stock;Passing by a fountain,Wringing at a rock;
Devil-gotten sinners,Throwing back their heads;Fiddling for their dinners,Kissing for their beds.
Not a one had seen usWouldn't help him flee.Angry ran between usBlood of him and me.
How shall I be matingWho have looked above--Living for a hating,Dying of a love?
Words in this poem
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- wringing
- a. & n. from Wring, v. Wringing machine, a wringer. See Wringer, 2.
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Dark Girl's Rhyme 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, The Dark Girl's Rhyme, in Enough Rope (1926), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #68353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/parker-enough-rope/the-dark-girl-s-rhyme.html, id L27324.
Form and metre
The Dark Girl's Rhyme is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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 ABAB usA · runB · usA · doneB
- 2 ABAB springingA · raceB · swingingA · placeB
- 3 ABAB overA · layB · cloverA · hayB
- 4 ABAB songA · sodB · songA · godB
- 5 ABAB ofA · flameB · ofA · nameB
- 6 ABAB mountainA · stockB · fountainA · rockB
- 7 ABAB sinnersA · headsB · dinnersA · bedsB
- 8 ABAB usA · fleeB · usA · meB
- 9 ABAB matingA · aboveB · hatingA · loveB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Who was there had seen us | 6 | ······ |
| Wouldn't bid him run? | 5 | /˘··· |
| Heavy lay between us | 6 | /˘···· |
| All our sires had done. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| There he was, a-springing | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Of a pious race-- | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Setting hags a-swinging | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| In a market-place; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Sowing turnips over | 6 | /˘/˘·· |
| Where the poppies lay; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Looking past the clover, | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Adding up the hay; | 5 | /˘··· |
| Shouting through the Spring song, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Clumping down the sod; | 5 | /˘··· |
| Toadying, in sing-song, | 5 | ····· |
| To a crabbèd god. | 4 | ···· |
| There I was, that came of | 6 | ······ |
| Folk of mud and flame-- | 5 | ····· |
| I that had my name of | 6 | ······ |
| Them without a name. | 5 | ····· |
| Up and down a mountain | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Streeled my silly stock; | 6 | ·˘·/˘· |
| Passing by a fountain, | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Wringing at a rock; | 5 | /˘··· |
| Devil-gotten sinners, | 6 | /˘/˘/˘ |
| Throwing back their heads; | 5 | /˘··· |
| Fiddling for their dinners, | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Kissing for their beds. | 5 | /˘··· |
| Not a one had seen us | 6 | ······ |
| Wouldn't help him flee. | 5 | /˘··· |
| Angry ran between us | 6 | /˘···· |
| Blood of him and me. | 5 | ····· |
| How shall I be mating | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Who have looked above-- | 6 | ···˘·· |
| Living for a hating, | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Dying of a love? | 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.