Old and New
She went up the mountain to pluck wild herbs;She came down the mountain and met her former husband.She knelt down and asked her former husband“What do you find your new wife like?”“My new wife, although her talk is clever,Cannot charm me as my old wife could.In beauty of face there is not much to choose.But in usefulness they are not at all alike.My new wife comes in from the road to meet me;My old wife always came down from her tower.My new wife is clever at embroidering silk;My old wife was good at plain sewing.Of silk embroidery one can do an inch a day;Of plain sewing, more than five feet.Putting her silks by the side of your sewing,I see that the new will not compare with the old.”
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- usefulness n.
- The quality or state of being useful; utility; serviceableness; advantage.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Old and New is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #42290, the Arthur Waley translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Various, Old and New, in A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #42290, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waley-chinese/old-and-new.html, id L18750.
Form and metre
Old and New is 16 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 72%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.6 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% 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 -AAB---B---C--C- herbs · husbandA · husbandA · likeB · clever · could · choose · alikeB · me · tower · silk · sewingC · day · feet · sewingC · old
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 |
|---|---|---|
| She went up the mountain to pluck wild herbs; | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| She came down the mountain and met her former husband. | 13 | ····/˘···/˘/˘ |
| She knelt down and asked her former husband | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| “What do you find your new wife like?” | 8 | ········ |
| “My new wife, although her talk is clever, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Cannot charm me as my old wife could. | 9 | /˘······· |
| In beauty of face there is not much to choose. | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| But in usefulness they are not at all alike. | 12 | ··/˘˘·····˘/ |
| My new wife comes in from the road to meet me; | 11 | ··········· |
| My old wife always came down from her tower. | 11 | ···/·····/˘ |
| My new wife is clever at embroidering silk; | 12 | ····/˘·˘/˘˘· |
| My old wife was good at plain sewing. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Of silk embroidery one can do an inch a day; | 13 | ··˘/˘˘······· |
| Of plain sewing, more than five feet. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Putting her silks by the side of your sewing, | 11 | /˘·······/˘ |
| I see that the new will not compare with the old.” | 12 | ·······˘/··· |
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.