Wordnik.com: Poetrie: Out There Somewhere

Wordnik.com: Poetrie: Out There Somewhere http://www.wordnik.com/lists/poetrie-out-there-somewhere.xml The Poem That Inspired the Mucker The title of Henry Herbert Knibbs poem Out There Somewhere was Edgar Rice Burroughs'(ERB) original title for Part II of THE MUCKER, written in 1916. A prominent feature of this story was the educated vagabond named Bridge, who was continually breaking into verse with affectionate odes to the open road. Almost everything that is quoted by Bridge in THE MUCKER comes from the same Knibbs poem. Knibbs, born in 1874, was a Canadian contemporary of Burroughs, and it is clearly apparent that ERB was much taken by his verse. It was published in 1914 by the Houghton Mifflin Co. as part of a collection called â€œSongs of the Outlands: Ballads of the Hoboes and Other Verse.â€* There is every indication that ERB actually was inspired to use his poem as a framework around which to build his story. â€œOut There Somewhereâ€* has fourteen stanzas and Burroughs took them individually (not in their original order) and quoted no less than eleven of them all through the story. Stanzas 2 and 3, which ERB did not quote, appear to be the source for the character of Bridge. In addition to this, he used the last stanza to end the book, thus linking the conclusions of both works. OUT THERE SOMEWHERE by Henry Herbert Knibbs As I was hiking past the woods, the cool and sleepy <a href="/words/summer">summer</a> woods, I saw a guy a-talking to the sunshine in the air; Thinks I, heâ€™s going to have a fit -- Iâ€™ll stick around and watch a bit; But he paid no <a href="/words/attention">attention</a>, hardly knowing I was there. He must have been a <a href="/words/college">college</a> guy, for he was talking big and high, -- The trees were standing all around as silent as a church -- A little closer I saw he was manufacturing poetry, Just like a Mocker sitting on a pussy-willow perch. I squatted down and rolled a <a href="/words/smoke">smoke</a> and listened to each word he spoke; He never stumbled, reared or broke; he never missed a word, And though he was a Bo like me, heâ€™d been a gent once, I could see; I ainâ€™t much strong on poetry, but this is what I heard: â€œWeâ€™ll dance a merry saraband from here to <a href="/words/drowsy">drowsy</a> Samarcand. Along the sea, across the land, the birds are flying South, And you, my sweet <a href="/words/Penelope">Penelope</a>, out there somewhere you wait for me, With buds of <a href="/words/rose">rose</a>s in your hair and kisses on your mouth. â€œThe mountains are all hid in mist; the valley is like <a href="/words/amethyst">amethyst</a>; The poplar leaves they turn and twist; oh, <a href="/words/silver">silver</a>, silver <a href="/words/green">green</a>! Out there somewhere along the sea a ship is waiting patiently, While up the beach the bubbles slip with <a href="/words/white">white</a> afloat between. â€œThe tide-hounds race far up the shore -- the hunt is on! The breakers roar, (Her spars are tipped with <a href="/words/gold">gold</a> and oâ€™er her deck the spray is flung); The buoys that <a href="/words/rollic">rollic</a> in the bay, they nod the way, they nod the way! The hunt is up! I am the <a href="/words/prey">prey</a>! The hunterâ€™s bow is strung!â€* â€œOut there somewhere, --â€* says I to me. â€œBy Gosh! I guess thatâ€™s poetry! Out there somewhere - Penelope - with kisses on her mouth!â€* And then, thinks I, â€œO college guy, your talk it gets me in the eye, The North is creeping in the air; the birds ARE flying South.â€* And yet, the sun was shining down, a-blazing on the little town, A mile or so â€˜way down the <a href="/words/track">track</a> a-dancing in the sun. But somehow, as I waited there, there came a <a href="/words/shiver">shiver</a> in the air; â€œThe birds are flying South,â€* he says. â€œThe winter has begun.â€* Says I, â€œThen letâ€™s be on the <a href="/words/float">float</a>; you certainly have got my goat; You make me hungry in my throat for seeing things thatâ€™s new. Out there somewhere weâ€™ll ride the range a-looking for the new and <a href="/words/strange">strange</a>; My feet are tired and need a change. Come on! Itâ€™s up to you! â€œThere ainâ€™t no <a href="/words/sweet">sweet</a> Penelope somewhere thatâ€™s longing much for me, But I can smell the blundering sea and hear the rigging hum; And I can hear the whispering lips that fly before the <a href="/words/outbound">outbound</a> ships;, And I can hear the breakers on the sand a-booming â€˜Come!â€™â€* And then that slim, poetic guy, turned and looked me in the eye: â€œ...Itâ€™s overland and <a href="/words/overland">overland</a> and overseas to -- where?â€* â€œMost anywhere that isnâ€™t here. " I says. His face went kind of queer: "The place we're in is always HERE. The other place is THERE." He smiled, though, as my eye caught his. â€œThen what a lot of THERE there is To go and see and go and see and go and see some more.â€* He did a <a href="/words/fancy">fancy</a> step or two. Says he, â€œI think Iâ€™ll go with you --â€* ... Two moons, and we were baking in the straits at Singapore. Around the world and back again; we saw it all. The <a href="/words/mist">mist</a> and rain In England and the dry old plain from Needles to Berdoo. We kept a-rambling all the time. I rustled grub, he rustled <a href="/words/rhyme">rhyme</a> -- Blind baggage, hoof it, ride or climb -- we always put it through. Just for a con Iâ€™d like to know (yes, he crossed over long ago; And he was right, believe me, Bo!) if somewhere in the South, Down where the <a href="/words/cloud">cloud</a>s lie on the sea, he found his sweet Penelope, With buds of roses in her hair and <a href="/words/kisses">kisses</a> on her mouth. --From: http://www.erbzine.com/mag0/0003.html#2.%20OUT%20THERE%20SOMEWHERE%20by%20Henry%20Herbert Click on the link for page number references relating each stanza's appearance in "The Mucker", or for more of ERB's favorite poetry, compiled by Bill Hillman. http://www.wordnik.com summer http://www.wordnik.com/words/summer Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:24:58 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/summer attention http://www.wordnik.com/words/attention Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:24:56 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/attention college http://www.wordnik.com/words/college Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:24:54 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/college smoke http://www.wordnik.com/words/smoke Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:24:27 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/smoke drowsy http://www.wordnik.com/words/drowsy Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:24:25 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/drowsy penelope http://www.wordnik.com/words/penelope Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:24:21 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/penelope rose http://www.wordnik.com/words/rose Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:24:08 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/rose amethyst http://www.wordnik.com/words/amethyst Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:24:06 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/amethyst silver http://www.wordnik.com/words/silver Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:24:03 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/silver green http://www.wordnik.com/words/green Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:22:11 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/green white http://www.wordnik.com/words/white Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:21:56 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/white gold http://www.wordnik.com/words/gold Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:21:54 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/gold rollic http://www.wordnik.com/words/rollic Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:21:50 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/rollic prey http://www.wordnik.com/words/prey Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:21:30 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/prey track http://www.wordnik.com/words/track Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:21:26 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/track shiver http://www.wordnik.com/words/shiver Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:21:23 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/shiver float http://www.wordnik.com/words/float Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:21:08 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/float strange http://www.wordnik.com/words/strange Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:21:01 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/strange sweet http://www.wordnik.com/words/sweet Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:20:56 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/sweet outbound http://www.wordnik.com/words/outbound Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:19:16 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/outbound overland http://www.wordnik.com/words/overland Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:19:11 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/overland fancy http://www.wordnik.com/words/fancy Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:19:09 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/fancy mist http://www.wordnik.com/words/mist Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:18:55 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/mist rhyme http://www.wordnik.com/words/rhyme Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:18:53 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/rhyme cloud http://www.wordnik.com/words/cloud Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:18:49 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/cloud kisses http://www.wordnik.com/words/kisses Sat, 02 Jun 2007 12:18:45 +0000 http://www.wordnik.com/words/kisses