Fall Time
The gather'd clouds, a-hangen low,Do meaeke the woody ridge look dim;An' rain-vill'd streams do brisker flow,Arisen higher to their brim.In the tree, vrom lim' to lim',Leaves do dropVrom the top, all slowly down,Yollow, to the gloomy groun'.
The rick's a-tipp'd an' weather-brown'd,An' thatch'd wi' zedge a-dried an' dead;An' orcha'd apples, red half round,Have all a-happer'd down, a-shedUnderneath the trees' wide head.Ladders long,Rong by rong, to clim' the tallTrees, be hung upon the wall.
The crumpled leaves be now a-shedIn mornen winds a-blowen keen;When they wer green the moss wer dead,Now they be dead the moss is green.Low the evenen zun do sheenBy the boughs,Where the cows do swing their tailsOver the merry milkers' pails.
Words in this poem
- rong n.
- Rung (of a ladder).
- blowen n.
- A prostitute; a courtesan; a strumpet. [Low] Smart.
- sheen v. i.
- To shine; to glisten.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fall Time is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect, Project Gutenberg ebook #21785; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Barnes, Fall Time, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect (1844–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/barnes-dorset/fall-time.html, id L02321.
Form and metre
Fall Time is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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.
- 1 ABABB--- lowA · dimB · flowA · brimB · limB · drop · down · groun
- 2 ABABB-CC brown'dA · deadB · roundA · shedB · headB · long · tallC · wallC
- 3 ABABB-CC shedA · keenB · deadA · greenB · sheenB · boughs · tailsC · pailsC
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The gather'd clouds, a-hangen low, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Do meaeke the woody ridge look dim; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| An' rain-vill'd streams do brisker flow, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Arisen higher to their brim. | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| In the tree, vrom lim' to lim', | 7 | ······· |
| Leaves do drop | 3 | ··· |
| Vrom the top, all slowly down, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Yollow, to the gloomy groun'. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| The rick's a-tipp'd an' weather-brown'd, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| An' thatch'd wi' zedge a-dried an' dead; | 8 | ········ |
| An' orcha'd apples, red half round, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Have all a-happer'd down, a-shed | 8 | ········ |
| Underneath the trees' wide head. | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Ladders long, | 3 | /˘· |
| Rong by rong, to clim' the tall | 7 | ······· |
| Trees, be hung upon the wall. | 7 | ······· |
| The crumpled leaves be now a-shed | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In mornen winds a-blowen keen; | 8 | ········ |
| When they wer green the moss wer dead, | 8 | ········ |
| Now they be dead the moss is green. | 8 | ········ |
| Low the evenen zun do sheen | 8 | ········ |
| By the boughs, | 3 | ··· |
| Where the cows do swing their tails | 7 | ······· |
| Over the merry milkers' pails. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
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.