Fish Crier
I know a Jew fish crier down on Maxwell Street with a voice like a north wind blowing over corn stubble in January.He dangles herring before prospective customers evincing a joy identical with that of Pavlowa dancing.His face is that of a man terribly glad to be selling fish, terribly glad that God made fish, and customers to whom he may call his wares from a pushcart.
Words in this poem
- january n.
- The first month of the year, containing thirty-one days. [L. Januarius, fr. Janus an old Latin deity, the god of the sun and the year, to whom the month of January was sacred; cf. janua a door, Skr. ya to go.]
- prospective a.
- Of or pertaining to a prospect; furnishing a prospect; perspective. [L. prospectivus: cf. F. prospectif. See Prospect, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fish Crier is in the public domain. This text is taken from Chicago Poems, Wikisource; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Carl Sandburg, Fish Crier, in Chicago Poems (1916), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sandburg-chicago-poems/fish-crier.html, id L28864.
Form and metre
Fish Crier is 3 lines in a single stanza.
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.
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I know a Jew fish crier down on Maxwell Street with a voice like a north wind blowing over corn stubble in January. | 31 | ·····/˘··/·········/˘···/˘·/˘·˘ |
| He dangles herring before prospective customers evincing a joy identical with that of Pavlowa dancing. | 30 | ·/˘/˘··˘/˘/˘˘˘/˘··˘/˘˘······/˘ |
| His face is that of a man terribly glad to be selling fish, terribly glad that God made fish, and customers to whom he may call his wares from a pushcart. | 39 | ·······/˘˘···/˘·/˘˘······/˘˘··········· |
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.