Will Carleton wrote many long narrative ballads, of a homely type. His Betsey and I Are Out, and Over the Hills to the Poorhouse, in their day were known to every household.

A shorter work is:

ELIPHALET CHAPIN’S WEDDING

’Twas when the leaves of Autumn were by tempest-fingers picked,

Eliphalet Chapin started to become a benedict;

With an ancient two-ox waggon to bring back his new-found goods,

He hawed and gee’d and floundered through some twenty miles o’ woods;

With prematrimonial ardour he his hornèd steeds did press,

But Eliphalet’s wedding journey didn’t bristle with success.