To Mary
I seem, in the midst of the crowd,The lightest of all;My laughter rings cheery and loud,In banquet and ball.My lip hath its smiles and its sneers,For all men to see;But my soul, and my truth, and my tears,Are for thee, are for thee!
Around me they flatter and fawn--The young and the old.The fairest are ready to pawnTheir hearts for my gold.They sue me--I laugh as I spurnThe slaves at my knee;But in faith and in fondness I turnUnto thee, unto thee!
Words in this poem
- spurn v. t.
- To drive back or away, as with the foot; to kick. [OE. spurnen to kick against, to stumble over, AS. spurnan to kick, offend; akin to spura spur, OS. & OHG. spurnan to kick, Icel. spyrna, L. spernere to despise,]
- fondness n.
- The quality or state of being fond; foolishness.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Mary 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, To Mary, in Ballads (1849–1855), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2732, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thackeray-ballads/to-mary.html, id L10360.
Form and metre
To Mary is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is anapaestic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 98%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic trimeter.
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 crowdA · allB · loudA · ballB · sneersC · seeD · tearsC · theeD
- 2 ABABCDCD fawnA · oldB · pawnA · goldB · spurnC · kneeD · turnC · theeD
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 anapaestic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I seem, in the midst of the crowd, | 8 | ········ |
| The lightest of all; | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| My laughter rings cheery and loud, | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| In banquet and ball. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| My lip hath its smiles and its sneers, | 8 | ········ |
| For all men to see; | 5 | ····· |
| But my soul, and my truth, and my tears, | 9 | ········· |
| Are for thee, are for thee! | 6 | ······ |
| Around me they flatter and fawn-- | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| The young and the old. | 5 | ····· |
| The fairest are ready to pawn | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| Their hearts for my gold. | 5 | ····· |
| They sue me--I laugh as I spurn | 8 | ········ |
| The slaves at my knee; | 5 | ····· |
| But in faith and in fondness I turn | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Unto thee, unto thee! | 6 | ······ |
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.