A Sea-Side Walk
We walked beside the seaAfter a day which perished silentlyOf its own glory--like the princess weirdWho, combating the Genius, scorched and seared,Uttered with burning breath, "Ho! victory!"And sank adown, a heap of ashes pale:So runs the Arab tale.
The sky above us showedA universal and unmoving cloudOn which the cliffs permitted us to seeOnly the outline of their majesty,As master-minds when gazed at by the crowd:And shining with a gloom, the water greySwang in its moon-taught way.
Nor moon, nor stars were out;They did not dare to tread so soon about,Though trembling, in the footsteps of the sun:The light was neither night's nor day's, but oneWhich, life-like, had a beauty in its doubt,And silence's impassioned breathings roundSeemed wandering into sound.
O solemn-beating heartOf nature! I have knowledge that thou artBound unto man's by cords he cannot sever;And, what time they are slackened by him ever,So to attest his own supernal part,Still runneth thy vibration fast and strongThe slackened cord along:
For though we never spokeOf the grey water and the shaded rock,Dark wave and stone unconsciously were fusedInto the plaintive speaking that we usedOf absent friends and memories unforsook;And, had we seen each other's face, we hadSeen haply each was sad.
Words in this poem
- princess n.
- A female prince; a woman having sovereign power, or the rank of a prince. [F. princesse. See Prince, and cf. Princesse.]
- seared a.
- Scorched; cauterized; hence, figuratively, insensible; not susceptible to moral influences.
- adown adv.
- From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [OE. adun, adoun, adune. AS. of dune off the hill. See Down.]
- impassioned p. p.
- Actuated or characterized by passion or zeal; showing warmth of feeling; ardent; animated; excited; as, an impassioned orator or discourse.
- attest v. t.
- To bear witness to; to certify; to affirm to be true or genuine; as, to attest the truth of a writing, a copy of record. [L. attestari; ad + testari to bear witness: cf. F. attester.]
- supernal a.
- Being in a higher place or region; locally higher; as, the supernal orbs; supernal regions. [L. supernus, from super above: cf. F. supernel. See Super-.]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- haply adv.
- By hap, chance, luck, or accident; perhaps; it may be.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Sea-Side Walk is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #33363; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, A Sea-Side Walk, in Lady Geraldine's Courtship, and Other Poems (1844), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #33363, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/barrett-browning-poems-2/a-sea-side-walk.html, id L24836.
Form and metre
A Sea-Side Walk is 35 lines in 5 stanzas of 7 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is AABBACC, in 2 of the 5 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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.
- 1 --AA-BB sea · silently · weirdA · searedA · victory · paleB · taleB
- 2 -A--ABB showed · cloudA · see · majesty · crowdA · greyB · wayB
- 3 AABBACC outA · aboutA · sunB · oneB · doubtA · roundC · soundC
- 4 AABBACC heartA · artA · severB · everB · partA · strongC · alongC
- 5 --AA-BB spoke · rock · fusedA · usedA · unforsook · hadB · sadB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| We walked beside the sea | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| After a day which perished silently | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Of its own glory--like the princess weird | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Who, combating the Genius, scorched and seared, | 10 | ·˘/˘·/˘··· |
| Uttered with burning breath, "Ho! victory!" | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘˘ |
| And sank adown, a heap of ashes pale: | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| So runs the Arab tale. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The sky above us showed | 6 | ······ |
| A universal and unmoving cloud | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| On which the cliffs permitted us to see | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Only the outline of their majesty, | 10 | /˘·/···/˘˘ |
| As master-minds when gazed at by the crowd: | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And shining with a gloom, the water grey | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Swang in its moon-taught way. | 6 | ······ |
| Nor moon, nor stars were out; | 6 | ······ |
| They did not dare to tread so soon about, | 10 | ·········· |
| Though trembling, in the footsteps of the sun: | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| The light was neither night's nor day's, but one | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Which, life-like, had a beauty in its doubt, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And silence's impassioned breathings round | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/˘/˘· |
| Seemed wandering into sound. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| O solemn-beating heart | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Of nature! I have knowledge that thou art | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Bound unto man's by cords he cannot sever; | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| And, what time they are slackened by him ever, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| So to attest his own supernal part, | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Still runneth thy vibration fast and strong | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| The slackened cord along: | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| For though we never spoke | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Of the grey water and the shaded rock, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Dark wave and stone unconsciously were fused | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Into the plaintive speaking that we used | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Of absent friends and memories unforsook; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And, had we seen each other's face, we had | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Seen haply each was sad. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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.