Ding Dong
When the world grows old by the chimney-side,Then forth to the youngling nooks I glide,Where over the water and over the landThe bells are booming on either hand.
Now up they go ding, then down again dong,And awhile they ring to the same old song,For the metal goes round at a single bound,A-cutting the fields with its measured sound,While the tired tongue falls with a lengthened boomAs solemn and loud as the crack of doom.
Then changed is their measure to tone upon tone,And seldom it is that one sound comes alone,For they ring out their peals in a mingled throng,And the breezes waft the loud ding-dong along.
When the echo hath reached me in this lone vale,I am straightway a hero in coat of mail,I tug at my belt and I march on my post,And feel myself more than a match for a host.
Words in this poem
- youngling n.
- A young person; a youth; also, any animal in its early life. [AS. geongling.]
- ding v. t.
- To dash; to throw violently. [OE. dingen, dengen; akin to AS. dencgan to knock, Icel. dengja to beat, hammer, Sw. dänga, G. dengeln.]
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- waft v. t.
- To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon. [Prob. originally imp. & p. p. of wave, v. t. See Wave to waver.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- straightway adv.
- Immediately; without loss of time; without delay.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ding Dong is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Nature, Project Gutenberg ebook #59988; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry David Thoreau, Ding Dong, in Poems of Nature (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59988, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thoreau-poems/ding-dong.html, id L02840.
Form and metre
Ding Dong is 18 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 77%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 11% 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 AABB sideA · glideA · landB · handB
- 2 AABBCC dongA · songA · boundB · soundB · boomC · doomC
- 3 AABB toneA · aloneA · throngB · alongB
- 4 AABB valeA · mailA · postB · hostB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When the world grows old by the chimney-side, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Then forth to the youngling nooks I glide, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Where over the water and over the land | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| The bells are booming on either hand. | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| Now up they go ding, then down again dong, | 10 | ·······˘/· |
| And awhile they ring to the same old song, | 10 | ·˘/······· |
| For the metal goes round at a single bound, | 11 | ··/˘····/˘· |
| A-cutting the fields with its measured sound, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| While the tired tongue falls with a lengthened boom | 10 | ··/····/˘· |
| As solemn and loud as the crack of doom. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Then changed is their measure to tone upon tone, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| And seldom it is that one sound comes alone, | 11 | ·/˘······˘/ |
| For they ring out their peals in a mingled throng, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| And the breezes waft the loud ding-dong along. | 11 | ··/˘·····˘/ |
| When the echo hath reached me in this lone vale, | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| I am straightway a hero in coat of mail, | 11 | ··/˘·/˘···· |
| I tug at my belt and I march on my post, | 11 | ··········· |
| And feel myself more than a match for a host. | 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.