Master Paul
Master Paul was angry,—in his ireThrew his hat,Like a log, into the blazing fire,—What of that?Talked about his wife till he was hoarse:"Curse her—I'll apply for a divorce!No! I'll chase her out of doors instead"—And he did exactly what he said.
Master Paul got cooler after that—Very cool!"What a fool to throw away my hat—What a fool!What a fool to drive her from the door,Now I shall be poorer than before;For she kept the house, and earned her bread,"—And it was exactly as he said.
Master Paul got angrier, angrier yet,—Took his hat—Flung it from him in his passionate pet—What of that?"Toil and trouble is man's wretched lot,And one more misfortune matters not—Let it go—unsheltered be my head"—And he did exactly as he said.
Freed from all this world's anxieties—Master PaulPulled his hat indignant o'er his eyes—"All, yes! all:All is gone, my partner and my pelf,Nought is left me but to hang myself,So of all my troubling cares get rid"—And exactly as he said he did.
Words in this poem
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- cooler n.
- That which cools, or abates heat or excitement.
- 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,]
- indignant a.
- Affected with indignation; wrathful; passionate; irate; feeling wrath, as when a person is exasperated by unworthy or unjust treatment, by a mean action, or by a degrading accusation. [L. indignans, -antis, p. pr. of indignari to be indignant, disdain. See Indign.]
- pelf n.
- Money; riches; lucre; gain; -- generally conveying the idea of something ill-gotten or worthless. It has no plural. [OE. pelfir booty, OF. pelfre, akin to pelfrer to plunder, and perh. to E. pillage. Cf. Pilfer.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Master Paul is in the public domain. This text is taken from Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet, by Sir John Bowring (London: Trübner & Co., 1866), Internet Archive, the John Bowring translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sándor Petőfi, Master Paul, in Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet (1866), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petofi-poems-bowring/master-paul.html, id L29801.
Form and metre
Master Paul is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCCDD. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in trochaic pentameter.
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 ABABCCDD ireA · hatB · fireA · thatB · hoarseC · divorceC · insteadD · saidD
- 2 ABABCCDD thatA · coolB · hatA · foolB · doorC · beforeC · breadD · saidD
- 3 ABABCCDD yetA · hatB · petA · thatB · lotC · notC · headD · saidD
- 4 ABABCCDD anxietiesA · paulB · eyesA · allB · pelfC · myselfC · ridD · didD
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Master Paul was angry,—in his ire | 9 | /˘··/˘··· |
| Threw his hat, | 3 | ··· |
| Like a log, into the blazing fire,— | 9 | ······/˘/ |
| What of that? | 3 | ··· |
| Talked about his wife till he was hoarse: | 9 | ········· |
| "Curse her—I'll apply for a divorce! | 9 | ···˘/··˘/ |
| No! I'll chase her out of doors instead"— | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| And he did exactly what he said. | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| Master Paul got cooler after that— | 9 | /˘··/˘··· |
| Very cool! | 3 | /˘· |
| "What a fool to throw away my hat— | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
| What a fool! | 3 | ··· |
| What a fool to drive her from the door, | 9 | ········· |
| Now I shall be poorer than before; | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| For she kept the house, and earned her bread,"— | 9 | ········· |
| And it was exactly as he said. | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| Master Paul got angrier, angrier yet,— | 9 | /˘··/˘/˘· |
| Took his hat— | 3 | ··· |
| Flung it from him in his passionate pet— | 9 | ······/˘· |
| What of that? | 3 | ··· |
| "Toil and trouble is man's wretched lot, | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| And one more misfortune matters not— | 9 | ···˘/˘/˘· |
| Let it go—unsheltered be my head"— | 9 | ········· |
| And he did exactly as he said. | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| Freed from all this world's anxieties— | 9 | ·····˘/˘˘ |
| Master Paul | 3 | /˘· |
| Pulled his hat indignant o'er his eyes— | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| "All, yes! all: | 3 | ··· |
| All is gone, my partner and my pelf, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Nought is left me but to hang myself, | 9 | ········/ |
| So of all my troubling cares get rid"— | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| And exactly as he said he did. | 9 | ·˘/˘····· |
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.