Old Grimes
Old Grimes is dead; that good old man,We ne’er shall see him more;He used to wear a long, black coat,All buttoned down before.
His heart was open as the day,His feelings all were true;His hair was some inclined to gray,He wore it in a queue.
He lived at peace with all mankind,In friendship he was true;His coat had pocket-holes behind,His pantaloons were blue.
He modest merit sought to find,And pay it its desert;He had no malice in his mind,No ruffles on his shirt.
His neighbours he did not abuse,Was sociable and gay;He wore large buckles on his shoes,And changed them every day.
His knowledge, hid from public gaze,He did not bring to view,Nor make a noise town-meeting days,As many people do.
His worldly goods he never threwIn trust to fortune’s chances,But lived (as all his brothers do)In easy circumstances.
Thus undisturbed by anxious caresHis peaceful moments ran;And everybody said he wasA fine old gentleman.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- queue v. t.
- To fasten, as hair, in a queue.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Old Grimes 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, Old Grimes, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/old-grimes.html, id L25190.
Form and metre
Old Grimes is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 7 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 -A-A man · moreA · coat · beforeA
- 2 ABAB dayA · trueB · grayA · queueB
- 3 ABAB mankindA · trueB · behindA · blueB
- 4 ABAB findA · desertB · mindA · shirtB
- 5 ABAB abuseA · gayB · shoesA · dayB
- 6 ABAB gazeA · viewB · daysA · doB
- 7 ABAB threwA · chancesB · doA · circumstancesB
- 8 ABAB caresA · ranB · wasA · gentlemanB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Old Grimes is dead; that good old man, | 8 | ········ |
| We ne’er shall see him more; | 6 | ······ |
| He used to wear a long, black coat, | 8 | ········ |
| All buttoned down before. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| His heart was open as the day, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| His feelings all were true; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| His hair was some inclined to gray, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| He wore it in a queue. | 6 | ······ |
| He lived at peace with all mankind, | 8 | ······// |
| In friendship he was true; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| His coat had pocket-holes behind, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| His pantaloons were blue. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| He modest merit sought to find, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And pay it its desert; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| He had no malice in his mind, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| No ruffles on his shirt. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| His neighbours he did not abuse, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Was sociable and gay; | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| He wore large buckles on his shoes, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And changed them every day. | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| His knowledge, hid from public gaze, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| He did not bring to view, | 6 | ······ |
| Nor make a noise town-meeting days, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| As many people do. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| His worldly goods he never threw | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| In trust to fortune’s chances, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| But lived (as all his brothers do) | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In easy circumstances. | 7 | ·/˘/˘·˘ |
| Thus undisturbed by anxious cares | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| His peaceful moments ran; | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And everybody said he was | 8 | ·/˘·˘··· |
| A fine old gentleman. | 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.