Forgotten Song
Always at the kitchen door the gaunt wolf stands.Grey wolf—old wolf—evil and old—Keep ever thy hungry gleaming eyes,Thy fangs to kill,Thy heart of hate.Now my brother infallible, stay in the darkness there.
Long, long ago, when days were new,Fresh born of cornfields, undefiled,Man fought the wolf in open fight,Under the moonThey fought at night,Into his body the wolf-love, won in the darkness there.
There is a tale men cannot tell,Tired women telling,Tired men telling,Echoes of tales through the halls of souls,Telling of ghosts by kitchen doors, dim in the darkness there.
Grey wolf lying in the snow,Lie low,Lie low.Soft lips clinging in the night,God's challenge to all in the bitter night, low in the darkness there.
Far in men's minds the cry of wolves,Old primal things and snow-clad hills,In many hearts a challenge grim.Run with me,My lady fair,Run with my wolf to-night.
Always at the kitchen door the cold white faceAnd cold white teeth of want and woe.Run forever, lady fair,Track the grey wolf to his lair—A challenge to you in the bitter night, loud in the darkness there.
Always by the kitchen door the gaunt wolf stands.Grey wolf—old wolf—evil and old—Keep ever thy hungry gleaming eyes,Thy fangs to kill,Thy heart of hate.Now my brother magnificent, stay in the darkness there.
Words in this poem
- gaunt a.
- Attenuated, as with fasting or suffering; lean; meager; pinched and grim. [Cf. Norw. gand a thin pointed stick, a tall and thin man, and W. gwan weak.]
- primal a.
- First; primary; original; chief. [LL. primalis, fr. L. primus the first. See Prime, a.]
- lair n.
- A place in which to lie or rest; especially, the bed or couch of a wild beast. [OE. leir, AS. leger; akin to D. leger, G. lager couch, lair, OHG. laga, Goth. ligrs, and to E. lie. See Lie to be prostrate, and cf. Layer, Leaguer.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Forgotten Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from Mid-American Chants (New York: John Lane Company; London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1918), Internet Archive; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sherwood Anderson, Forgotten Song, in Mid-American Chants (1918), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/anderson-mid-american-chants/forgotten-song.html, id L29471.
Form and metre
Forgotten Song is 39 lines in 7 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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.
- 2 --A-A- new · undefiled · fightA · moon · nightA · there
- 3 -AA-- tell · tellingA · tellingA · souls · there
- 4 AAA-- snowA · lowA · lowA · night · there
- 6 --AAA face · woe · fairA · lairA · thereA
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Always at the kitchen door the gaunt wolf stands. | 11 | /···/˘····· |
| Grey wolf—old wolf—evil and old— | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Keep ever thy hungry gleaming eyes, | 9 | ·/˘·/˘/˘· |
| Thy fangs to kill, | 4 | ···· |
| Thy heart of hate. | 4 | ···· |
| Now my brother infallible, stay in the darkness there. | 14 | ··/˘˘/˘˘···/˘· |
| Long, long ago, when days were new, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Fresh born of cornfields, undefiled, | 8 | ···//··· |
| Man fought the wolf in open fight, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Under the moon | 4 | ···· |
| They fought at night, | 4 | ···· |
| Into his body the wolf-love, won in the darkness there. | 14 | ···/˘······/˘· |
| There is a tale men cannot tell, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Tired women telling, | 6 | /˘/˘/˘ |
| Tired men telling, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Echoes of tales through the halls of souls, | 9 | /˘······· |
| Telling of ghosts by kitchen doors, dim in the darkness there. | 14 | /˘···/˘····/˘· |
| Grey wolf lying in the snow, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Lie low, | 2 | ·· |
| Lie low. | 2 | ·· |
| Soft lips clinging in the night, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| God's challenge to all in the bitter night, low in the darkness there. | 16 | ·/˘····/˘····/˘· |
| Far in men's minds the cry of wolves, | 8 | ········ |
| Old primal things and snow-clad hills, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In many hearts a challenge grim. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Run with me, | 3 | ··· |
| My lady fair, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Run with my wolf to-night. | 6 | ······ |
| Always at the kitchen door the cold white face | 11 | /···/˘····· |
| And cold white teeth of want and woe. | 8 | ········ |
| Run forever, lady fair, | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘· |
| Track the grey wolf to his lair— | 7 | ······· |
| A challenge to you in the bitter night, loud in the darkness there. | 16 | ·/˘····/˘····/˘· |
| Always by the kitchen door the gaunt wolf stands. | 11 | /···/˘····· |
| Grey wolf—old wolf—evil and old— | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Keep ever thy hungry gleaming eyes, | 9 | ·/˘·/˘/˘· |
| Thy fangs to kill, | 4 | ···· |
| Thy heart of hate. | 4 | ···· |
| Now my brother magnificent, stay in the darkness there. | 14 | ··/˘˘/˘˘···/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.