Sheep
Thousands of sheep, soft-footed, black-nosed sheep—one by one going up the hill and over the fence—one by one four-footed pattering up and over—one by one wiggling their stub tails as they take the short jump and go over—one by one silently unless for the multitudinous drumming of their hoofs as they move on and go over—thousands and thousands of them in the grey haze of evening just after sundown—one by one slanting in a long line to pass over the hill—
I am the slow, long-legged Sleepyman and I love you sheep in Persia, California, Argentine, Australia, or Spain—you are the thoughts that help me when I, the Sleepyman, lay my hands on the eyelids of the children of the world at eight o’clock every night—you thousands and thousands of sheep in a procession of dusk making an endless multitudinous drumming on the hills with your hoofs.
Words in this poem
- stub n.
- The stump of a tree; that part of a tree or plant which remains fixed in the earth when the stem is cut down; -- applied especially to the stump of a small tree, or shrub.
- multitudinous a.
- Consisting of a multitude; manifold in number or condition; as, multitudinous waves.
- drumming n.
- The act of beating upon, or as if upon, a drum; also, the noise which the male of the ruffed grouse makes in spring, by beating his wings upon his sides.
- sundown n.
- The setting of the sun; sunset.
- argentine a.
- Pertaining to, or resembling, silver; made of, or sounding like, silver; silvery.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sheep 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, Sheep, in Chicago Poems (1916), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sandburg-chicago-poems/sheep.html, id L28990.
Form and metre
Sheep is 2 lines in 2 stanzas of 1 lines each.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thousands of sheep, soft-footed, black-nosed sheep—one by one going up the hill and over the fence—one by one four-footed pattering up and over—one by one wiggling their stub tails as they take the short jump and go over—one by one silently unless for the multitudinous drumming of their hoofs as they move on and go over—thousands and thousands of them in the grey haze of evening just after sundown—one by one slanting in a long line to pass over the hill— | 117 | /˘···/˘······/˘············/˘/˘˘·······/˘˘················/˘˘·········/˘···········/˘·/˘·······/˘···/····/˘·········· |
| I am the slow, long-legged Sleepyman and I love you sheep in Persia, California, Argentine, Australia, or Spain—you are the thoughts that help me when I, the Sleepyman, lay my hands on the eyelids of the children of the world at eight o’clock every night—you thousands and thousands of sheep in a procession of dusk making an endless multitudinous drumming on the hills with your hoofs. | 98 | ·····/˘·········/˘·˘/˘/˘·˘/˘····················/···/˘·····˘//˘˘··/˘·/˘····˘/˘··/˘·/˘·····/˘······ |
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.