Author:William Barnes/Index of first lines

Index of first lines

A

• A happy day, a happy year,
• A happy day at Whitsuntide,
• A maïd wi’ many gifts o’ greäce,
• A Maÿtide’s evenèn wer a-dyèn,
• A new house! Ees, indeed! a small
• A plague! theäse cow wont stand a bit,
• Above the leafless hazzle-wride
• About the tow’r an’ churchyard wall,
• Above the timber’s bendèn sh’ouds,
• After many long years had a-run,
• Ah! don’t tell o’ maïdens! the woone vor my bride
• Ah! ev’ry day mid bring a while
• Ah! good Meäster Gwillet, that you mid ha’ know’d,
• Ah! how the looks o’ sky an’ ground
• Ah! I do think, as I do tread
• Ah! Jeäne, my maïd, I stood to you,
• Ah! Jimmy vow’d he’d have the law
• Ah! John! how I do love to look
• Ah! mam! you woonce come here the while
• Ah! Meäster Collins overtook
• Ah! naïghbour John, since I an’ you
• Ah! sad wer we as we did peäce
• Ah! then the grassy-meäded Maÿ
• Ah! there’s a house that I do know
• Ah! they vew zummers brought us round
• Ah! they wer times, when Nanny Gill
• Ah! when our wedded life begun,
• Ah! when the wold vo’k went abroad
• Ah! yesterday, d’ye know, I voun’
• Ah! yesterday, you know, we carr’d
• Ah! you do seem to think the ground,
• The aïr to gi’e your cheäks a hue
• All up the down’s cool brow
• An’ after that we met wi’ zome
• An’ then we went along the gleädes
• An’ while I went ’ithin a traïn,
• An’ while I zot, wi’ thoughtvul mind,
• An’ zoo o’ Monday we got drough
• An’ zoo’s the day wer warm an’ bright,
• An’ zoo you didden come athirt,
• And oh! the jaÿ our rest did yield,
• A-swaÿèn slow, the poplar’s head,
• As clouds did ride wi’ heästy flight,
• As I, below the mornèn sky,
• As I come by, zome years agoo,
• As I wer out in meäd last week,
• As I wer readèn ov a stwone
• As in the cool-aïr’d road I come by, / —in the night,
• At last Jeäne come down stairs, a-drest
• As evenèn aïr, in green-treed Spring,
• As I at work do look aroun’
• As I do zew, wi’ nimble hand,
• As light do gleäre in ev’ry ground,
• At Easter, though the wind war high,
• At eventide the wind wer loud
• At Lindenore upon the steep,
• At night, as drough the meäd I took my waÿ,
• At peace day, who but we should goo
• At the feäst, I do mind very well, all the vo’ks
• At Woodcombe farm, wi’ ground an’ tree
• Avore the time when zuns went down
• Avore we went a-milkèn, vive
• Aye, a sad life his wife must ha’ led,
• Aye, at that time our days wer but vew,
• Aye, aye, the leäne wi’ flow’iy zides
• Aye, aye, vull rathe the zun mus’ rise
• Aye, back at Leädy-Day, you know,
• Aye, the girt elem tree out in little hwome groun’
• Aye, Meäster Collins wer a-blest
• Aye, vull my heart’s blood now do roll,

B

• Back here, but now, the jobber John
• The beäten path where vo’k do meet
• The bright-tunn’d house, a-risèn proud,
• The brook I left below the rank
• By the brow o’ thik hangèn I spent all my youth,
• By time’s a-brought the mornèn light,

C

• “Can all be still, when win’s do blow?
• The church do zeem a touchèn zight,
• Come, bring a log o’ cleft wood, Jack,
• Come down to-morrow night; an’ mind,
• Come, Fanny, come! put on thy white,
• Come here an’ zit a while below
• Come let’s goo down the grove to-night;
• Come, let’s stroll down so vur’s the poun’,
• “Come on. Be sprack, a-laggèn back.”
• Come out o’door, ’tis Spring! ’tis Maÿ
• Come out to the parrock, come out to the tree,
• Come, run up hwome wi’ us to night,

D

• Dan Dwithen wer the chap to show
• Dear lilac-tree, a-spreadèn wide
• Dear Yarrowham, ’twer many miles
• The dock-leaves that do spread so wide
• Don’t try to win a maïden’s heart,
• The drevèn scud that overcast

E

• Ees, last Whit-Monday, I an’ Meäry
• Ees: now mahogany’s the goo.
• Ees; uncle had thik small hwomestead,

F

• The Frome, wi’ ever-water’d brink,

G

• The gather’d clouds, a-hangèn low,
• The girt woak tree that’s in the dell!
• The girt wold house o’ mossy stwone,
• The girt wold waggon uncle had,
• Good Meäster Collins! aye, how mild he spoke
• Good Meäster Collins heärd woone day
• Good morn t’ye, John. How b’ye? how b’ye?
• The grass mid sheen when wat’ry beäds
• Green mwold on zummer bars do show
• The ground is clear. There’s nar a ear
• Guy Faux’s night, dost know, we chaps,

H

• Heigh! heigh! here. Who’s about?
• Here did swaÿ the eltrot flow’rs,
• Here, Jeäne, we vu’st did meet below
• His aunt an’ uncle,—ah! the kind
• The house where I wer born an’ bred,
• How b’ye, then, John, to-night; an’ how
• How dear’s the door a latch do shut,
• How happy uncle us’d to be
• How merry, wi’ the cider cup,
• Hurrah! my lads, vor Do’set men!

I

• I born in town! oh no, my dawn
• I do mind when there broke bitter tidèns,
• I do seem to zee Grammar as she did use
• I do veel vor ye, Thomas, vor I be a-feär’d
• I don’t want to sleep abrode, John,
• I got two vields, an’ I don’t ceäre
• I took a flight, awhile agoo,
• I went hwome in the dead o’ the night,
• If I had all the land my zight
• If I’ve a-stream’d below a storm,
• If mem’ry, when our hope’s a-gone,
• If souls should only sheen so bright
• If theäse day’s work an’ burnèn sky
• I’m out, when, in the Winter’s blast,
• I’m thankvul I be out o’ that
• In brown-leav’d Fall the wheat a-left
• In church at Grenley woone mid zee
• In happy days when I wer young,
• In happy times a while agoo,
• In leäne the gipsies, as we went
• In the common by our hwome
• In stillness we ha’ words to hear,
• In zummer, leäte at evenèn tide,
• In zummer, when the sheädes do creep
• In zummer, when the knaps wer bright
• ’Ithin the woodlands, flow’ry gleäded,
• I’ve a-come by the Maÿ-tree all times o’ the year,

J

• Jean ax’d what ribbon she should wear
• John Bleäke he had a bit o’ ground
• John Bloom he wer a jolly soul,

L

• Last Easter Jim put on his blue
• Last night below the elem in the lew
• Last night the merry farmers’ sons,
• Last week the Browns ax’d nearly all
• Last week, when we’d a haul’d the crops,
• Let en zit, wi’ his dog an’ his cat,
• Let me work, but mid noo tie
• Lik’ souls a-toss’d at sea I bore

M

• Meäry-Ann wer alwone wi’ her beäby in earms,
• My days, wi’ wold vo’k all but gone,
• My hwome wer on the timber’d ground
• My love is good, my love is feäir,
• My love is the maïd ov all maïdens,

N

• News o’ grief had overteäken
• No! I don’t begrudge en his life,
• No, I’m a man, I’m vull a man,
• No! Jenny, there’s noo pleäce to charm
• No; mind thy father. When his tongue
• No, no, good Meäster Collins cried,
• No, no! I ben’t a-runnèn down
• No, no, why you’ve noo wife at hwome
• No: where the woak do overspread,
• Noo soul did hear her lips complaïn,
• Now day by day, at lofty height,
• Now, Fanny, ’tis too bad, you teazèn maïd!
• Now the light o’ the west is a-turn’d to gloom,
• Now the sheädes o’ the elems do stratch mwore an’ mwore,
• Now the yollow zun, a-runnèn
• Now the zunny aïr’s a-blowèn

O

• O, aye! they had woone child bezide,
• O, I be a carter, wi’ my whip
• O jaÿ betide the dear wold mill,
• O Jenny, don’t sobby! vor I shall be true;
• O Lizzie is so mild o’ mind,
• O! Meäry, when the zun went down,
• O mother, mother! be the teäties done?
• O Poll’s the milk-maïd o’ the farm!
• O’ small-feäc’d flow’r that now dost bloom
• O spread ageän your leaves an’ flow’rs,
• O the wings o’ the rook wer a-glitterèn bright,
• O when our zun’s a-zinkèn low,
• O when theäse elems’ crooked boughs,
• O wild-reävèn west winds; as you do roar on,
• O zummer clote! when the brook’s a-glidèn
• Oh! aye! the spring ’ithin the leäne,
• Oh! Bob the fiddler is the pride
• Oh! I be shepherd o’ the farm,
• Oh! I vu’st know’d o’ my true love,
• Oh! if my ling’rèn life should run,
• Oh! no, I quite injaÿ’d the ride
• Oh! no, Poll, no! Since they’ve a-took
• Oh! the wood wer a-vell’d in the copse,
• Oh! thik Gammony Gaÿ is so droll,
• Oh! there be angels evermwore,
• Oh! when the friends we us’d to know,
• Ov all the birds upon the wing
• Ov all the chaps a-burnt so brown
• Ov all the cows, among the rest
• Ov all the housen o’ the pleäce,
• Ov all the meäds wi’ shoals an’ pools,
• Ov all the roads that ever bridge

P

• Pentridge!—oh! my heart’s a-zwellèn
• Poor Jenny wer her Robert’s bride
• The primrwose in the sheäde do blow,

R

• The rick ov our last zummer’s haulèn
• The rook’s nest do rock on the tree-top

S

• The sheädeless darkness o’ the night
• Since I noo mwore do zee your feäce,
• Since we wer striplèns naïghbour John,
• The sky wer clear, the zunsheen glow’d
• The snow-white clouds did float on high
• The stream-be-wander’d dell did spread
• Sweet Be’mi’ster, that bist a-bound
• Sweet Woodley! oh! how fresh an’ gaÿ

T

• That’s slowish work, Bob. What’st a-been about?
• There be the greyhounds! lo’k! an’ there’s the heäre!
• There Liddy zot bezide her cow,
• There lovely Jenny past,
• There the ash-tree leaves do vall
• There’s noo pleäce I do like so well,
• There’s thik wold hag, Moll Brown, look zee, jus’ past!
• There’s what the vo’k do call a veäiry ring
• They do zay that a travellèn chap
• This is a darkish evenèn; b’ye a-feärd
• The thissledown by wind’s a-roll’d
• Though cool avore the sheenèn sky
• Though ice do hang upon the willows
• ’Tis merry ov a zummer’s day, (Haÿ-Meäken)
• ’Tis merry ov a zummer’s day, (Haÿ-Carrèn)
• ’Tis true I brought noo fortune hwome
• ’Tis zome vo’ks jaÿ to teäke the road,
• To morrow stir so brisk’s you can,
• ’Twer at night, an’ a keen win’ did blow
• ’Twer good what Meäster Collins spoke
• ’Twer Maÿ, but ev’ry leaf wer dry
• ’Twer out at Penley I’d a-past
• ’Twer when the busy birds did vlee,
• ’Twer when the vo’k wer out to hawl
• ’Twer where my fondest thoughts do light,
• ’Twer where the zun did warm the lewth,

U

• Upon the hedge theäse bank did bear,
• Upon the slope, the hedge did bound
• Upon theäse knap I’d sooner be
• Upzides wi’ Polly! no, he’d vind

V

• Vier, Aïr, E’th, Water, wer a-meäde
• Vor all the zun do leäve the sky,
• Vorgi’e me, Jenny, do! an’ rise

W

• We Do’set, though we mid be hwomely,
• We now mid hope vor better cheer,
• We thought you woulden leäve us quite
• We took the apples in last week,
• We zot bezide the leäfy wall,
• Well, aye, last evenèn, as I shook
• Well here, then, Mister auctioneer,
• Well, here we be, then, wi’ the vu’st poor lwoad
• Well, I do zay ’tis wo’th woone’s while
• Well! thanks to you, my faïthful Jeäne.
• Well, Tom, how be’st? Zoo thou’st a-got thy neäme
• Well, you mid keep the town an’ street,
• When dewy fall’s red leaves do vlee
• When evenèn is a-drawèn in,
• When evenèn sheädes o’ trees do hide
• When high-flown larks wer on the wing,
• When hot-beam’d zuns do strik right down,
• When I led by zummer streams
• When I wer still a bwoy, an’ mother’s pride,
• When in the evenèn the zun’s a-zinkèn,
• When in happy times we met,
• When, leäte o’ nights, above the green
• When leäzers wi’ their laps o’ corn
• When mornèn winds, a-blowèn high,
• When music, in a heart that’s true,
• When out below the trees, that drow’d
• When Pentridge House wer still the nest
• When sheädes do vail into ev’ry hollow,
• When skies wer peäle wi’ twinklèn stars,
• When snow-white clouds wer thin an’ vew
• When starbright maïdens be to zit
• When sycamore leaves wer a-spreadèn,
• When the warm zummer breeze do blow over the hill,
• When vu’st along theäse road vrom mill,
• When vu’st the breakèn day is red,
• When hillborne Paladore did show
• When our downcast looks be smileless,
• When we in mornèn had a-drow’d
• When weakness now do strive wi’ might
• When wind wer keen.
• When wintry weather’s all a-done,
• When zummer’s burnèn het’s a-shed
• Where the bridge out at Woodley did stride,
• Where cows did slowly seek the brink
• Where the western zun, unclouded,
• While down the meäds wound slow,
• The while I took my bit o’ rest,
• While now upon the win’ do zwell
• While zome, a-gwaïn from pleäce to pleäce,
• While zuns do roll vrom east to west
• Why ees, aunt Anne’s a little staïd,
• Why, his heart’s lik’ a popple, so hard as a stwone,
• Why woonce, at Chris’mas-tide, avore
• Why, raïn or sheen, or blow or snow,
• Why thik wold post so long kept out,
• Why tidden vields an’ runnèn brooks,
• Wi’ smokeless tuns an’ empty halls,
• The windless copse ha’ sheädy boughs,
• The winter clouds, that long did hide
• The woaken tree, a-beät at night
• The woaken tree, so hollow now,
• Woone’s heart mid leäp wi’ thoughts o’ jaÿ
• Wull ye come in eärly Spring,

Y

• You’ll lose your meäster soon, then, I do vind;

Z

• The zilver-weed upon the green,
• Zoo after supper wer a-done,
• Zoo here be your childern, a-sheärèn
• Zoo then the leädy an’ the squier,
• Zoo you be in your groun’ then, I do zee,
• The zun can zink, the stars mid rise,
• The zun’d a-zet back tother night,
• The zun, O Jessie, while his feäce do rise
• “The zunny copse ha’ birds to zing,