The Matron of Jedborough and Her Husband
Age! twine thy brows with fresh spring flowers,And call a train of laughing Hours;And bid them dance, and bid them sing;And thou, too, mingle in the ring!Take to thy heart a new delight;If not, make merry in despiteThat there is One who scorns thy power:--But dance! for under Jedborough Tower,A Matron dwells who, though she bearsThe weight of more than seventy years,Lives in the light of youthful glee,And she will dance and sing with thee.
Nay! start not at that Figure--there!Him who is rooted to his chair!Look at him--look again! for heHath long been of thy family.With legs that move not, if they can,And useless arms, a trunk of man,He sits, and with a vacant eye;A sight to make a stranger sigh!Deaf, drooping, that is now his doom:His world is in this single room:Is this a place for mirthful cheer?Can merry-making enter here?
The joyous Woman is the MateOf him in that forlorn estate!He breathes a subterraneous damp;But bright as Vesper shines her lamp:He is as mute as Jedborough Tower:She jocund as it was of yore,With all its bravery on; in timesWhen all alive with merry chimes,Upon a sun-bright morn of May,It roused the Vale to holiday.
I praise thee, Matron! and thy dueIs praise, heroic praise, and true!With admiration I beholdThy gladness unsubdued and bold:Thy looks, thy gestures, all presentThe picture of a life well spent:This do I see; and something more;A strength unthought of heretofore!Delighted am I for thy sake;And yet a higher joy partake:Our Human-nature throws awayIts second twilight, and looks gay;A land of promise and of prideUnfolding, wide as life is wide.
Ah! see her helpless Charge! enclosedWithin himself as seems, composed;To fear of loss, and hope of gain,The strife of happiness and pain,Utterly dead! yet in the guiseOf little infants, when their eyesBegin to follow to and froThe persons that before them go,He tracks her motions, quick or slow.Her buoyant spirit can prevailWhere common cheerfulness would fail;She strikes upon him with the heatOf July suns; he feels it sweet;An animal delight though dim!'Tis all that now remains for him!
The more I looked, I wondered more--And, while I scanned them o'er and o'er,Some inward trouble suddenlyBroke from the Matron's strong black eye--A remnant of uneasy light,A flash of something over-bright!Nor long this mystery did detainMy thoughts;--she told in pensive strainThat she had borne a heavy yoke,Been stricken by a twofold stroke;Ill health of body; and had pinedBeneath worse ailments of the mind.
So be it!--but let praise ascendTo Him who is our lord and friend!Who from disease and sufferingHath called for thee a second spring;Repaid thee for that sore distressBy no untimely joyousness;Which makes of thine a blissful state;And cheers thy melancholy Mate!
Words in this poem
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- vesper n.
- The evening star; Hesper; Venus, when seen after sunset; hence, the evening. [L., the evening, the evening star, the west; akin to Gr. west. Cf. Hesperian, Vespers.]
- jocund
- Merry; cheerful; gay; airy; lively; sportive. [L. jocundus, jucundus, orig., helpful, fr. juvare to help. See Aid.]
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- 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.]
- admiration n.
- Wonder; astonishment. [F., fr. L. admiratio. See Admire.]
- delighted a.
- Endowed with delight.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- wondered a.
- Having performed wonders; able to perform wonderful things.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- stricken p. p.
- Struck; smitten; wounded; as, the stricken deer.
- blissful a.
- Full of, characterized by, or causing, joy and felicity; happy in the highest degree.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Matron of Jedborough and Her Husband is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 2 (of 8), Project Gutenberg ebook #12145; 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 Wordsworth, The Matron of Jedborough and Her Husband, in The Brothers, and Other Poems (1798–1807), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12145, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wordsworth-vol2/the-matron-of-jedborough-and-her-husband.html, id L17393.
Form and metre
The Matron of Jedborough and Her Husband is 83 lines in 7 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 80% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, 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 8.1 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 28% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic 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--EE flowersA · hoursA · singB · ringB · delightC · despiteC · powerD · towerD · bears · years · gleeE · theeE
- 2 AAB-CCBBDDEE thereA · chairA · heB · family · canC · manC · eyeB · sighB · doomD · roomD · cheerE · hereE
- 3 AABB--CCDD mateA · estateA · dampB · lampB · tower · yore · timesC · chimesC · mayD · holidayD
- 4 AABBCCDDEEFFGG dueA · trueA · beholdB · boldB · presentC · spentC · moreD · heretoforeD · sakeE · partakeE · awayF · gayF · prideG · wideG
- 5 AABBCCDDDEEFFGG enclosedA · composedA · gainB · painB · guiseC · eyesC · froD · goD · slowD · prevailE · failE · heatF · sweetF · dimG · himG
- 6 ----AABBCCDD more · o'er · suddenly · eye · lightA · brightA · detainB · strainB · yokeC · strokeC · pinedD · mindD
- 7 AABBCCDD ascendA · friendA · sufferingB · springB · distressC · joyousnessC · stateD · mateD
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Age! twine thy brows with fresh spring flowers, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And call a train of laughing Hours; | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| And bid them dance, and bid them sing; | 8 | ········ |
| And thou, too, mingle in the ring! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Take to thy heart a new delight; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| If not, make merry in despite | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| That there is One who scorns thy power:-- | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| But dance! for under Jedborough Tower, | 9 | ········/ |
| A Matron dwells who, though she bears | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The weight of more than seventy years, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Lives in the light of youthful glee, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And she will dance and sing with thee. | 8 | ········ |
| Nay! start not at that Figure--there! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Him who is rooted to his chair! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Look at him--look again! for he | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Hath long been of thy family. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| With legs that move not, if they can, | 8 | ········ |
| And useless arms, a trunk of man, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| He sits, and with a vacant eye; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A sight to make a stranger sigh! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Deaf, drooping, that is now his doom: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| His world is in this single room: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Is this a place for mirthful cheer? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Can merry-making enter here? | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| The joyous Woman is the Mate | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Of him in that forlorn estate! | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| He breathes a subterraneous damp; | 8 | ········ |
| But bright as Vesper shines her lamp: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He is as mute as Jedborough Tower: | 9 | ········/ |
| She jocund as it was of yore, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With all its bravery on; in times | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When all alive with merry chimes, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Upon a sun-bright morn of May, | 8 | ········ |
| It roused the Vale to holiday. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I praise thee, Matron! and thy due | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Is praise, heroic praise, and true! | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| With admiration I behold | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Thy gladness unsubdued and bold: | 8 | ·/˘··˘·· |
| Thy looks, thy gestures, all present | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The picture of a life well spent: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| This do I see; and something more; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A strength unthought of heretofore! | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Delighted am I for thy sake; | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| And yet a higher joy partake: | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Our Human-nature throws away | 8 | //˘/˘·˘/ |
| Its second twilight, and looks gay; | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| A land of promise and of pride | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Unfolding, wide as life is wide. | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Ah! see her helpless Charge! enclosed | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Within himself as seems, composed; | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| To fear of loss, and hope of gain, | 8 | ········ |
| The strife of happiness and pain, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Utterly dead! yet in the guise | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| Of little infants, when their eyes | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Begin to follow to and fro | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| The persons that before them go, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| He tracks her motions, quick or slow. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Her buoyant spirit can prevail | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Where common cheerfulness would fail; | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| She strikes upon him with the heat | 8 | ········ |
| Of July suns; he feels it sweet; | 8 | ··/····· |
| An animal delight though dim! | 8 | ·/˘˘˘/·· |
| 'Tis all that now remains for him! | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| The more I looked, I wondered more-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And, while I scanned them o'er and o'er, | 8 | ········ |
| Some inward trouble suddenly | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Broke from the Matron's strong black eye-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A remnant of uneasy light, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| A flash of something over-bright! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Nor long this mystery did detain | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| My thoughts;--she told in pensive strain | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That she had borne a heavy yoke, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Been stricken by a twofold stroke; | 8 | ·/˘··//· |
| Ill health of body; and had pined | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Beneath worse ailments of the mind. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| So be it!--but let praise ascend | 8 | ······˘/ |
| To Him who is our lord and friend! | 8 | ····/··· |
| Who from disease and suffering | 8 | ··˘/·/˘˘ |
| Hath called for thee a second spring; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Repaid thee for that sore distress | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| By no untimely joyousness; | 7 | ··˘/˘·· |
| Which makes of thine a blissful state; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And cheers thy melancholy Mate! | 8 | ···/˘·˘· |
On this poem
Notes from the edition 9
William Knight's notes to The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Volume 2 (1896; Project Gutenberg #12145): Wordsworth's own Isabella Fenwick notes and Knight's headnotes on composition and publication, plus his lettered footnotes (restarting at A for every poem).
- Stanza 1, line 7 1827. For ... 1807.
- Stanza 1, line 11 1837. ... under Jedborough Tower There liveth in the prime of glee, A Woman, whose years are seventy-three, And She ... 1807. There lives a woman of seventy-three, And she will dance and sing with thee, MS. A Matron dwells, who though she bears Our mortal complement of years, Lives in the light of youthful glee, 1827.
- Stanza 2, line 11 1827. ... for mirth and cheer? 1807.
- Stanza 2, line 12 Compare Tennyson's 'Deserted House', stanza iv.: 'Come away: no more of mirth Is here, or merry-making sound.' Ed.
- Stanza 6, line 2 1827. I look'd, I scann'd her o'er and o'er; The more I look'd I wonder'd more: 1807.
- Stanza 6, line 4 1837. When suddenly I seem'd to espy A trouble in her strong black eye; 1807. A moment gave me to espy A trouble . . . 1827.
- Stanza 6, line 6 Compare stanza xiii. of 'Resolution and Independence', p. 318.--Ed.
- Stanza 6, line 8 1827. And soon she made this matter plain; And told me, in a thoughtful strain, 1807.
- Stanza 7, line 4 As bad almost as Life can bring, Added in MS.
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