"Wapping Old Stairs
"Your Molly has never been false," she declares,"Since the last time we parted at Wapping Old Stairs;When I said that I would continue the same,And I gave you the 'bacco-box marked with my name.When I passed a whole fortnight between decks with you,Did I e'er give a kiss, Tom, to one of your crew?To be useful and kind to my Thomas I stay'd,For his trousers I washed, and his grog too I made.
"Though you promised last Sunday to walk in the MallWith Susan from Deptford and likewise with Sall,In silence I stood your unkindness to hearAnd only upbraided my Tom with a tear.Why should Sall, or should Susan, than me be more prized?For the heart that is true, Tom, should ne'er be despised;Then be constant and kind, nor your Molly forsake,Still your trousers I'll wash and your grog too I'll make."
Words in this poem
- molly n.
- A pet or colloquial name for Mary. Molly cottontail. (Zoöl.) See Cottontail.
- wapping n.
- Yelping. Fuller.
- fortnight n.
- The space of fourteen days; two weeks. [Contr. fr. fourteen nights, our ancestors reckoning time by nights and winters; so, also, seven nights, sennight, a week.]
- grog n.
- A mixture of spirit and water not sweetened; hence, any intoxicating liquor. Grog blossom, a redness on the nose or face of persons who drink ardent spirits to excess. [Collog.] [So named fronm "Old Grog" a nickmname given to Admiral Vernon, in allusion to his wearing a grogram cloak in foul weather. He is said to have been the first to ]
- mall n.
- A large heavy wooden beetle; a mallet for driving anything with force; a maul. [OE. malle, F. mail, L. malleus. Cf. Malleus.]
- sall n.
- An East Indian timber tree (Shorea robusta), much used for building purposes. It is of a light brown color, close-grained, and durable. [Hind. s\'bel, Skr. ç\'bela.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
"Wapping Old Stairs 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, "Wapping Old Stairs, in Ballads (1849–1855), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2732, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thackeray-ballads/wapping-old-stairs.html, id L10378.
Form and metre
"Wapping Old Stairs is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCCDD. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.5 syllables. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic tetrameter.
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 AABBCCDD declaresA · stairsA · sameB · nameB · youC · crewC · stay'dD · madeD
- 2 AABBCCDD mallA · sallA · hearB · tearB · prizedC · despisedC · forsakeD · makeD
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| "Your Molly has never been false," she declares, | 10 | ·/˘·/···˘/ |
| "Since the last time we parted at Wapping Old Stairs; | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| When I said that I would continue the same, | 11 | ······˘/˘·· |
| And I gave you the 'bacco-box marked with my name. | 12 | ············ |
| When I passed a whole fortnight between decks with you, | 12 | ·····/······ |
| Did I e'er give a kiss, Tom, to one of your crew? | 12 | ············ |
| To be useful and kind to my Thomas I stay'd, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| For his trousers I washed, and his grog too I made. | 11 | ··/········ |
| "Though you promised last Sunday to walk in the Mall | 12 | ··/˘·/······ |
| With Susan from Deptford and likewise with Sall, | 11 | ·/˘····/··· |
| In silence I stood your unkindness to hear | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| And only upbraided my Tom with a tear. | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘····· |
| Why should Sall, or should Susan, than me be more prized? | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| For the heart that is true, Tom, should ne'er be despised; | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| Then be constant and kind, nor your Molly forsake, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘˘/ |
| Still your trousers I'll wash and your grog too I'll make." | 11 | ··/········ |
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.