The Husbandmen
Though God, as one that is an householder,Called these to labour in his vine-yard first,Before the husk of darkness was well burstBidding them grope their way out and bestir,(Who, questioned of their wages, answered, 'Sir,Unto each man a penny:') though the worstBurthen of heat was theirs and the dry thirst:Though God hath since found none such as these wereTo do their work like them:--Because of thisStand not ye idle in the market-place.Which of ye knoweth he is not that lastWho may be first by faith and will?--yea, hisThe hand which after the appointed daysAnd hours shall give a Future to their Past?
Words in this poem
- householder n.
- The master or head of a family; one who occupies a house with his family.
- bestir v. t.
- To put into brisk or vigorous action; to move with life and vigor; -- usually with the reciprocal pronoun.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Husbandmen is in the public domain. This text is taken from The House of Life, Project Gutenberg ebook #3692; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Husbandmen, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/the-husbandmen.html, id L20992.
Form and metre
The Husbandmen is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other English sonnets, other poems in iambic 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 ABABCDCDEFEFGG householderA · firstB · burstA · bestirB · sirC · worstD · thirstC · wereD · thisE · placeF · lastE · hisF · daysG · pastG
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Though God, as one that is an householder, | 10 | ·······/·˘ |
| Called these to labour in his vine-yard first, | 10 | ···/······ |
| Before the husk of darkness was well burst | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Bidding them grope their way out and bestir, | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| (Who, questioned of their wages, answered, 'Sir, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Unto each man a penny:') though the worst | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Burthen of heat was theirs and the dry thirst: | 10 | /˘········ |
| Though God hath since found none such as these were | 10 | ·········· |
| To do their work like them:--Because of this | 10 | ·········· |
| Stand not ye idle in the market-place. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Which of ye knoweth he is not that last | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Who may be first by faith and will?--yea, his | 10 | ·········· |
| The hand which after the appointed days | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| And hours shall give a Future to their Past? | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
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.