Jesus the Carpenter
“Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”--ay, it is He;Joseph the carpenter--same trade as me--I thought as I’d find it--I knew it was here--But my sight’s getting queer.
I don’t know right where as His shed must ha’ stood--But often, as I’ve been a-planing my wood,I’ve took off my hat, just with thinking of HeAt the same work as me.
He warn’t that set up that He couldn’t stoop downAnd work in the country for folks in the town;And I’ll warrant He felt a bit pride, like I’ve done,At a good job begun.
The parson he knows that I’ll not make too free,But on Sunday I feels as pleased as can be,When I wears my clean smock, and sits in a pew,And has taught a few.
I think of as how not the parson hissen,As is teacher and father and shepherd o’ men,Not he knows as much of the Lord in that shed,Where He earned His own bread.
And when I goes home to my missus, says she,“Are ye wanting your key?”For she knows my queer ways, and my love for the shed(We’ve been forty years wed).
So I comes right away by mysen, with the book,And I turns the old pages and has a good lookFor the text as I’ve found, as tells me as HeWere the same trade as me.
Why don’t I mark it? Ah, many say so,But I think I’d as lief, with your leaves, let it go:It do seem that nice when I fall on it sudden--Unexpected, you know!
Words in this poem
- folks 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Jesus the Carpenter is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, Jesus the Carpenter, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/jesus-the-carpenter.html, id L25226.
Form and metre
Jesus the Carpenter is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 7 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See 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 AABB heA · meA · hereB · queerB
- 2 AABB stoodA · woodA · heB · meB
- 3 AABB downA · townA · doneB · begunB
- 4 AABB freeA · beA · pewB · fewB
- 5 AABB hissenA · menA · shedB · breadB
- 6 AABB sheA · keyA · shedB · wedB
- 7 AABB bookA · lookA · heB · meB
- 8 AA-A soA · goA · sudden · knowA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”--ay, it is He; | 10 | ˘˘·/˘····· |
| Joseph the carpenter--same trade as me-- | 10 | /˘·/˘˘···· |
| I thought as I’d find it--I knew it was here-- | 11 | ··········· |
| But my sight’s getting queer. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I don’t know right where as His shed must ha’ stood-- | 11 | ··········· |
| But often, as I’ve been a-planing my wood, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| I’ve took off my hat, just with thinking of He | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| At the same work as me. | 6 | ······ |
| He warn’t that set up that He couldn’t stoop down | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| And work in the country for folks in the town; | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| And I’ll warrant He felt a bit pride, like I’ve done, | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| At a good job begun. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The parson he knows that I’ll not make too free, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| But on Sunday I feels as pleased as can be, | 11 | ··/········ |
| When I wears my clean smock, and sits in a pew, | 11 | ··········· |
| And has taught a few. | 5 | ····· |
| I think of as how not the parson hissen, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| As is teacher and father and shepherd o’ men, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Not he knows as much of the Lord in that shed, | 11 | ··········· |
| Where He earned His own bread. | 6 | ······ |
| And when I goes home to my missus, says she, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| “Are ye wanting your key?” | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| For she knows my queer ways, and my love for the shed | 12 | ············ |
| (We’ve been forty years wed). | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| So I comes right away by mysen, with the book, | 12 | ····˘/······ |
| And I turns the old pages and has a good look | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| For the text as I’ve found, as tells me as He | 11 | ··········· |
| Were the same trade as me. | 6 | ······ |
| Why don’t I mark it? Ah, many say so, | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| But I think I’d as lief, with your leaves, let it go: | 12 | ············ |
| It do seem that nice when I fall on it sudden-- | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| Unexpected, you know! | 6 | ·˘/˘·· |
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.