Vields by Watervalls
When our downcast looks be smileless,Under others' wrongs an' slightens,When our daily deeds be guileless,An' do meet unkind requitens,You can meaeke us zome amendsVor wrongs o' foes, an' slights o' friends;--O flow'ry-gleaeded, timber-sheaededVields by flowen watervalls!
Here be softest airs a-blowenDrough the boughs, wi' zingen drushes,Up above the streams, a-flowenUnder willows, on by rushes.Here below the bright-zunn'd skyThe dew-bespangled flow'rs do dry,In woody-zided, stream-dividedVields by flowen watervalls.
Waters, wi' their giddy rollens;Breezes wi' their playsome wooens;Here do heal, in soft consolens,Hearts a-wrung wi' man's wrong doens.Day do come to us as gayAs to a king ov widest sway,In deaeisy-whiten'd, gil'cup-brighten'dVields by flowen watervalls.
Zome feaeir buds mid outlive blightens,Zome sweet hopes mid outlive sorrow.After days of wrongs an' slightensThere mid break a happy morrow.We mid have noo e'thly love;But God's love-tokens vrom aboveHere mid meet us, here mid greet us,In the vields by watervalls.
Words in this poem
- smileless a.
- Not having a smile.
- guileless a.
- Free from guile; artless.
- unkind a.
- Having no race or kindred; childless. [See Kin kindred.]
- blowen n.
- A prostitute; a courtesan; a strumpet. [Low] Smart.
- playsome a.
- Playful; wanton; sportive. R. Browning.
- outlive v. t.
- To live beyond, or longer than; to survive.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Vields by Watervalls 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, Vields by Watervalls, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect (1844–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/barnes-dorset/vields-by-watervalls.html, id L02315.
Form and metre
Vields by Watervalls is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 31% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABABCC-- smilelessA · slightensB · guilelessA · requitensB · amendsC · friendsC · sheaeded · watervalls
- 2 ABABCC-- blowenA · drushesB · flowenA · rushesB · skyC · dryC · divided · watervalls
- 3 AAAABB-- rollensA · wooensA · consolensA · doensA · gayB · swayB · brighten'd · watervalls
- 4 ABABCC-- blightensA · sorrowB · slightensA · morrowB · loveC · aboveC · us · watervalls
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When our downcast looks be smileless, | 9 | ·/˘/···/˘ |
| Under others' wrongs an' slightens, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| When our daily deeds be guileless, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| An' do meet unkind requitens, | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| You can meaeke us zome amends | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Vor wrongs o' foes, an' slights o' friends;-- | 8 | ········ |
| O flow'ry-gleaeded, timber-sheaeded | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Vields by flowen watervalls! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Here be softest airs a-blowen | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Drough the boughs, wi' zingen drushes, | 8 | ········ |
| Up above the streams, a-flowen | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Under willows, on by rushes. | 8 | ··/···/˘ |
| Here below the bright-zunn'd sky | 7 | ······· |
| The dew-bespangled flow'rs do dry, | 8 | ····˘··· |
| In woody-zided, stream-divided | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Vields by flowen watervalls. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Waters, wi' their giddy rollens; | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Breezes wi' their playsome wooens; | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Here do heal, in soft consolens, | 8 | ········ |
| Hearts a-wrung wi' man's wrong doens. | 7 | ······· |
| Day do come to us as gay | 7 | ······· |
| As to a king ov widest sway, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In deaeisy-whiten'd, gil'cup-brighten'd | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Vields by flowen watervalls. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Zome feaeir buds mid outlive blightens, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Zome sweet hopes mid outlive sorrow. | 8 | ·····//˘ |
| After days of wrongs an' slightens | 8 | ········ |
| There mid break a happy morrow. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| We mid have noo e'thly love; | 7 | ······· |
| But God's love-tokens vrom above | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Here mid meet us, here mid greet us, | 8 | ········ |
| In the vields by watervalls. | 7 | ······· |
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.