A Ring Posy
Jess and Jill are pretty girls,Plump and well to do,In a cloud of windy curls:Yet I know whoLoves me more than curls or pearls.
I'm not pretty, not a bit--Thin and sallow-pale;When I trudge along the streetI don't need a veil:Yet I have one fancy hit.
Jess and Jill can trill and singWith a flute-like voice,Dance as light as bird on wing,Laugh for careless joys:Yet it's I who wear the ring.
Jess and Jill will mate some day,Surely, surely:Ripen on to June through May,While the sun shines make their hay,Slacken steps demurely:Yet even there I lead the way.
Words in this poem
- jess n.
- A short strap of leather or silk secured round the leg of a hawk, to which the leash or line, wrapped round the falconer's hand, was attached when used. See Illust. of Falcon. [OF. gies, giez, prop. pl. of giet, get, jet, F. jet, a throwing, jess. See Jet a shooting forth.]
- jill n.
- A young woman; a sweetheart. See Gill. Beau. & Fl. [See Gill sweetheart.]
- trudge v. i.
- To walk or march with labor; to jog along; to move wearily. [Perhaps of Scand. origin, and originally meaning, to walk on snowshoes; cf. dial. Sw. truga, trudja, a snowshoe, Norw. truga, Icel. þruga.]
- demurely adv.
- In a demure manner; soberly; gravely; -- now, commonly, with a mere show of gravity or modesty.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Ring Posy is in the public domain. This text is taken from Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #16950; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Christina Rossetti, A Ring Posy, in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-goblin-market/a-ring-posy.html, id L04311.
Form and metre
A Ring Posy is 21 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABABA girlsA · doB · curlsA · whoB · pearlsA
- 2 AB-BA bitA · paleB · street · veilB · hitA
- 3 A-A-A singA · voice · wingA · joys · ringA
- 4 ABAABA dayA · surelyB · mayA · hayA · demurelyB · wayA
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Jess and Jill are pretty girls, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Plump and well to do, | 5 | ····· |
| In a cloud of windy curls: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Yet I know who | 4 | ···· |
| Loves me more than curls or pearls. | 7 | ······· |
| I'm not pretty, not a bit-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Thin and sallow-pale; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| When I trudge along the street | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| I don't need a veil: | 5 | ····· |
| Yet I have one fancy hit. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Jess and Jill can trill and sing | 7 | ······· |
| With a flute-like voice, | 5 | ····· |
| Dance as light as bird on wing, | 7 | ······· |
| Laugh for careless joys: | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Yet it's I who wear the ring. | 7 | ······· |
| Jess and Jill will mate some day, | 7 | ······· |
| Surely, surely: | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| Ripen on to June through May, | 7 | /˘····· |
| While the sun shines make their hay, | 7 | ······· |
| Slacken steps demurely: | 6 | /˘·˘/˘ |
| Yet even there I lead the way. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
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.