Analysis of The Corduroy Road
William Henry Drummond 1854 – 1907
De corduroy road go bompety bomp,
De corduroy road go jompety jomp,
An' he' s takin'beeg chances upset hees load
De horse dat 'll trot on de corduroy road.
Of course it's purty rough, but it's handy
t'ing enough
An' dey mak' it wit' de log all jine togeder
W'en deystrek de swampy groun' w' ere de
Water hang aroun'
Or passin'by some tough ole beaver medder.
But it' s not macadamize, so if you're only
wise
You will tak' your tam an' never min' de
worry
For de corduroy is bad, an' will mak' you
plaintee mad
By de way de buggy jomp, in case you hurry.
An' I' m sure you don't expec' leetle Victorine
Leveque
She was knowin' moche at all about dem
places,
'Cos she's never dere before, till young Zeph-
irin Madore
He was takin' her away for see de races.
O, I wish you see her den, dat's before she
marry, w' en
She's de fines' on de lan' but no use talkin'
I can bet you w'at you lak, if you meet her
you look back
Jus' to watch de fancy way dat girl is walkin'.
Yass de leetle Victorine was de nices' girl be-
tween
De town of Yamachiche an' Maskinongé,
But she's stuck up an' she's proud, an' you 'll
never count de crowd
Of de boy she geev' it w'at dey call de congé.
Ah! De moder spoil her sure, for even Joe
D'Amour
W'en he's ready nearly ev'ry t'ing to geev
her
If she mak' de mariée, only say, 'please go
away'
An' he's riches habitant along de reever.
Zephirin he try it too, an' he's workin' some-
t'ing new
For he's makin' de ole woman many presen'
Prize package on de train, umbrella for de rain
But she' s grompy all de tam, an' never
pleasan'.
Wall, w'en he ax Ma-dame tak' de girl away
dat tam
See dem races on Sorel wit' all de trotter
De moder say 'All right if you bring her
home to-night
Before de cow'smilk, I let go, ma
daughter.'
So Victorin she go wit' Zephirin her beau
On de yankee buggy mak' it on St. Bruno
An' w'en dey pass hotel on de middle of Sorel
Dey're puttin' on de beeges' style dat you
know.
Wall! dey got some good horse dere, but
Zephirin don't care
He's back it up hees own paroisse, ba golly,
An' he mak' it t'ree doll-arr w'en Maskinongé
Star
On de two mile heat was beatin' Sorel Molly.
Victorin don't min' at all, till de 'free for
all' dey call
Dat's de las' race dey was run before de snow fly
Den she say 'I t'ink de cow mus'be getting'
home soon now
An' you know it's only clock ole woman go by.
An' if we're comin'late w'en de cow pass on
de gate
You'll be sorry if you hear de way she talk
dere,
So w'en I see de race on Sorel or any place
After dis, you may be sure I got to walk dere.'
Den he laugh dat Zephirin, an' he say 'Your
poor mama
I know de pile she t'ink about her daughter
So we'll tak' de sshort road back on de cor-
duroy race track
Don't matter if we got to sweem de water.'
No wonder he is smile till you hear heem half
a mile
For dat morning he was tole hees leetle broder
Let de cattle out de gate, so he know it's
purty late
By de tam dem cow was findin' out each oder.
So along de corduroy de young girl an' de boy
Dey was kipin' up a joggin' nice an' steady
It is n't heavy load, an' Guillaume he know de
road
For many tam he's been dat way already.
But de girl she fin' it slow, so she ax de boy
to go
Somet'ing better dan a mile on fifteen minute
An' he's touch heem up Guillaume; so dat
horse he lay for home
an' de nex' t'ing Victorine she know she's
in it.
'O, pull him in, 'she yell, 'for even on Sorel
I am sure I never see de quicker racer,'
But it's leetle bit too late, for de horse is get
hees gait
an' de worse of all ba gosh! Guillaume's a
pacer.
See hees tail upon de air, no wonder she was
scare
But she hang on lak de winter on T'ree
Reever
Cryin' out- 'please hol' me tight, or I'm
comin'dead to-night
An' ma poor ole moder dear, I got to leave
her.'
Wit'her arm aroun' hees wais': she was doin'
it in case
She bus'her head, or keel herse'f, it's not so
easy sayin'
Dey was comin' on de jomp t'roo dat dam ole
beaver swamp
An' meet de crowd is lookin' for dem cow was
go a-stayin'.
Den she's cryin', Victorine, for she's knowin'
w'at it mean
De parish dey was talkin' firse chances dey be
gettin',
But no sooner dat young man stop de horse,
he tak' her han'
An' w'isper 'never min', ma chere, won't do
no good a-frett
Scheme | aabb cdecfe cxccgxc chijdej cffekf cfhlxx medEmne ifffef nieeoie mflgf pechec ellxfx fqxere eieeke xlexqe sccbc smpxixx letqxe ueceioxE frmflauf ffcfxfgt |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101111 1101111 1111100111 1111111101 111111110 1101 1111111111 10011110110011 1011 11111101 1111111110 1 1111111011 10 1110111111 11 111110101110 111111110010 01 111111011 10 1110101111 1010 11100111110 11111011011 101001 11111111110 11111001111110 111 11111011111 111001011111 1 111111 1111111111 10111 11111110011111 11101011101 1 10011101011111 0 111110110111 01 1110101110 111111111 111 11101110101 110111010111 1111111110 1 11001111111101 11 111011011110 1101111110 111 01111111 10 11111101 111010111110 1100111011110110 111111111 1 11111111 111 1111111110 1111111110011 1 11111111010 111111111 111 111111101111 11111111110 111 111110111011 111110011111 11 11101111111 1 1100111111101101 101111111111 111111111 110 111111101010 1111111111 111 11011111110 11011111111 01 11101111110 11101111111 11 11111111110 101110111111 1111011110 111110111111 1 11011111010 111111111111 11 11010110110 11111111 11111 111110010111 01 111011110110 111110111010 11111111111 11 111111110 10 111011111011 1 11111110111 10 11111111 111 11111011111 0 101111111 101 1101111111 101 1111111111 101 1111111111 101 1110010111 100111 110111011011 1 1110111111 1101 111011111 1101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 4,086 |
Words | 857 |
Sentences | 25 |
Stanzas | 21 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 6, 7, 7, 6, 6, 7, 6, 7, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 5, 7, 6, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 133 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 147 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 41 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 4:35 min read
- 76 Views
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"The Corduroy Road" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40734/the-corduroy-road>.
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