John Anderson
John Anderson, my jo, John,When we were first acquentYour locks were like the raven,Your bonnie brow was brent;But now your brow is bald, John,Your locks are like the snow;But blessings on your frosty pow,John Anderson, my jo.
John Anderson, my jo, John,We clamb the hill thegither,And mony a canty day, John,We’ve had wi’ ane anither;Now we maun totter down, John,But hand in hand we’ll go,And sleep thegither at the foot,John Anderson, my jo.
Words in this poem
- brent n.
- A brant. See Brant. [Cf. Brant.]
- canty a.
- Cheerful; sprightly; lively; merry.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
John Anderson 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, John Anderson, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/john-anderson.html, id L25306.
Form and metre
John Anderson is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in iambic 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 ABABAC-C johnA · acquentB · ravenA · brentB · johnA · snowC · pow · joC
- 2 ABABAC-C johnA · thegitherB · johnA · anitherB · johnA · goC · foot · joC
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 iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| John Anderson, my jo, John, | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| When we were first acquent | 6 | ······ |
| Your locks were like the raven, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Your bonnie brow was brent; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But now your brow is bald, John, | 7 | ······· |
| Your locks are like the snow; | 6 | ······ |
| But blessings on your frosty pow, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| John Anderson, my jo. | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| John Anderson, my jo, John, | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| We clamb the hill thegither, | 7 | ······· |
| And mony a canty day, John, | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| We’ve had wi’ ane anither; | 7 | ······· |
| Now we maun totter down, John, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| But hand in hand we’ll go, | 6 | ······ |
| And sleep thegither at the foot, | 8 | ········ |
| John Anderson, my jo. | 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.