The Garret
With pensive eyes the little room I view,Where, in my youth, I weathered it so long;With a wild mistress, a stanch friend or two,And a light heart still breaking into song:Making a mock of life, and all its cares,Rich in the glory of my rising sun,Lightly I vaulted up four pair of stairs,In the brave days when I was twenty-one.
Yes; 'tis a garret--let him know't who will--There was my bed--full hard it was and small;My table there--and I decipher stillHalf a lame couplet charcoaled on the wall.Ye joys, that Time hath swept with him away,Come to mine eyes, ye dreams of love and fun;For you I pawned my watch how many a day,In the brave days when I was twenty-one.
And see my little Jessy, first of all;She comes with pouting lips and sparkling eyes:Behold, how roguishly she pins her shawlAcross the narrow casement, curtain-wise;Now by the bed her petticoat glides down,And when did woman look the worse in none?I have heard since who paid for many a gown,In the brave days when I was twenty-one.
One jolly evening, when my friends and IMade happy music with our songs and cheers,A shout of triumph mounted up thus high,And distant cannon opened on our ears:We rise,--we join in the triumphant strain,--Napoleon conquers--Austerlitz is won--Tyrants shall never tread us down again,In the brave days when I was twenty-one.
Let us begone--the place is sad and strange--How far, far off, these happy times appear;All that I have to live I'd gladly changeFor one such month as I have wasted here--To draw long dreams of beauty, love, and power,From founts of hope that never will outrun,And drink all life's quintessence in an hour,Give me the days when I was twenty-one!
Words in this poem
- weathered a.
- Made sloping, so as to throw off water; as, a weathered cornice or window sill.
- garret n.
- A turret; a watchtower. [OE. garite, garette, watchtower, place of lookout, OF. garite, also meaning, a place of refuge, F. guérite a place of refuge, donjon, sentinel box, fr. OF. gari]
- decipher v. t.
- To translate from secret characters or ciphers into intelligible terms; as, to decipher a letter written in secret characters. [Pref. de- + cipher. Formed in imitation of F. déchiffrer. See Cipher.]
- couplet n.
- Two taken together; a pair or couple; especially two lines of verse that rhyme with each other. [F. couplet, dim. of couple. See Couple, n.]
- pouting n.
- Childish sullenness.
- casement n.
- A window sash opening on hinges affixed to the upright side of the frame into which it is fitted. (Poetically) A window. [Shortened fr. encasement. See Incase 1st Case, and cf. Incasement.]
- napoleon n.
- A French gold coin of twenty francs, or about $3.86. [From the Emperor Napoleon 1.]
- 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,]
- gladly adv.
- Preferably; by choice. [From Glad, a.]
- outrun v. t.
- To exceed, or leave behind, in running; to run faster than; to outstrip; to go beyond.
- quintessence n.
- The fifth or last and highest essence or power in a natural body. [F., fr. L. quinta essentia fifth essence. See Quint, and Essence.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Garret is in the public domain. This text is taken from Ballads, Project Gutenberg ebook #2732; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Makepeace Thackeray, The Garret, in Ballads (1849–1855), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2732, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thackeray-ballads/the-garret.html, id L10372.
Form and metre
The Garret is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 10% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 ABABCDCD viewA · longB · twoA · songB · caresC · sunD · stairsC · oneD
- 2 ABABCDCD willA · smallB · stillA · wallB · awayC · funD · dayC · oneD
- 3 ABABCDCD allA · eyesB · shawlA · wiseB · downC · noneD · gownC · oneD
- 4 ABABCDCD iA · cheersB · highA · earsB · strainC · wonD · againC · oneD
- 5 ABABCDCD strangeA · appearB · changeA · hereB · powerC · outrunD · hourC · oneD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| With pensive eyes the little room I view, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Where, in my youth, I weathered it so long; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| With a wild mistress, a stanch friend or two, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And a light heart still breaking into song: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Making a mock of life, and all its cares, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Rich in the glory of my rising sun, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Lightly I vaulted up four pair of stairs, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| In the brave days when I was twenty-one. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Yes; 'tis a garret--let him know't who will-- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| There was my bed--full hard it was and small; | 10 | ·········· |
| My table there--and I decipher still | 9 | ·/˘···˘/· |
| Half a lame couplet charcoaled on the wall. | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| Ye joys, that Time hath swept with him away, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Come to mine eyes, ye dreams of love and fun; | 10 | ·········· |
| For you I pawned my watch how many a day, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| In the brave days when I was twenty-one. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And see my little Jessy, first of all; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| She comes with pouting lips and sparkling eyes: | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Behold, how roguishly she pins her shawl | 10 | ˘/········ |
| Across the narrow casement, curtain-wise; | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Now by the bed her petticoat glides down, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And when did woman look the worse in none? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I have heard since who paid for many a gown, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| In the brave days when I was twenty-one. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| One jolly evening, when my friends and I | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Made happy music with our songs and cheers, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·/··· |
| A shout of triumph mounted up thus high, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And distant cannon opened on our ears: | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘·/· |
| We rise,--we join in the triumphant strain,-- | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Napoleon conquers--Austerlitz is won-- | 10 | ˘/˘/˘····· |
| Tyrants shall never tread us down again, | 9 | /˘·/···˘/ |
| In the brave days when I was twenty-one. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Let us begone--the place is sad and strange-- | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| How far, far off, these happy times appear; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| All that I have to live I'd gladly change | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| For one such month as I have wasted here-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To draw long dreams of beauty, love, and power, | 10 | ·····/˘··/ |
| From founts of hope that never will outrun, | 9 | ·····/·˘/ |
| And drink all life's quintessence in an hour, | 10 | ····˘/˘··/ |
| Give me the days when I was twenty-one! | 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.