Laurel · Stephen Vincent Benét · Young Adventure

The Growing of the Hemp

Stephen Vincent Benét (1898–1943) · 1918

iambic pentameter · heroic couplets · 49 lines · from Young Adventure

Sir Henry stood in the manor room,And his eyes were hard gems in the gloom.

And he said, "Go dig me furrows fiveWhere the green marsh creeps like a thing alive --There at its edge, where the rushes thrive."

And where the furrows rent the ground,He sowed the seed of hemp around.

And the blacks shrink back and are sore afraidAt the furrows five that rib the glade,And the voodoo work of the master's spade.

For a cold wind blows from the marshland near,And white things move, and the night grows drear,And they chatter and crouch and are sick with fear.

But down by the marsh, where the gray slaves glean,The hemp sprouts up, and the earth is seenVeiled with a tenuous mist of green.

And Hawk still scourges the Caribbees,And many men kneel at his knees.

Sir Henry sits in his house alone,And his eyes are hard and dull like stone.

And the waves beat, and the winds roar,And all things are as they were before.

And the days pass, and the weeks pass,And nothing changes but the grass.

But down where the fireflies are like eyes,And the damps shudder, and the mists rise,The hemp-stalks stand up toward the skies.

And down from the poop of the pirate shipA body falls, and the great sharks grip.

Innocent, lovely, go in grace!At last there is peace upon your face.

And Hawk laughs loud as the corpse is thrown,"The hemp that shall hang me is not grown!"

Sir Henry's face is iron to mark,And he gazes ever in the dark.

And the days pass, and the weeks pass,And the world is as it always was.

But down by the marsh the sickles beam,Glitter on glitter, gleam on gleam,And the hemp falls down by the stagnant stream.

And Hawk beats up from the Caribbees,Swooping to pounce in the Northern seas.

Sir Henry sits sunk deep in his chair,And white as his hand is grown his hair.

And the days pass, and the weeks pass,And the sands roll from the hour-glass.

But down by the marsh in the blazing sunThe hemp is smoothed and twisted and spun,The rope made, and the work done.

Words in this poem

blacks n.: The name of a kind of in used in copperplate printing, prepared from the charred husks of the grape, and residue of the wine press.
glade n.: An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest. [Prob. of Scand. origin, and akin to glad, a.; cf. also W. golead, goleuad, a lighting, illumination, fr. goleu light, clear, bright, goleu fwlch glade, lit., a ]
voodoo a.: Of or pertaining to voodooism, or a voodoo; as, voodoo incantations.
drear n.: Sadness; dismalness.
glean n.: Cleaning; afterbirth. Holland.
veiled a.: Covered by, or as by, a veil; hidden.
tenuous a.: Thin; slender; small; minute. [L. tenuis thin. See Thin, and cf. Tenuis.]
kneel v. i.: To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
poop v. i.: To make a noise; to pop; also, to break wind. [Cf. D. poepen. See Pop.]
corpse n.: A human body in general, whether living or dead; -- sometimes contemptuosly. [OF. cors (sometimes written corps), F. corps, L. corpus; akin to AS. hrif womb. See Midriff, and cf. Corse, Corselet, Corps, Cuerpo.]
shall v. i.: To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
pounce n.: A fine powder, as of sandarac, or cuttlefish bone, -- formerly used to prevent ink from spreading on manuscript. [F. ponce pumice, pounce, fr. L. pumex, -icis, pumice. See Pumice.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

The Growing of the Hemp is in the public domain. This text is taken from Young Adventure: A Book of Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #312; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Stephen Vincent Benét, The Growing of the Hemp, in Young Adventure (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #312, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/benet-young-adventure/the-growing-of-the-hemp.html, id L13390.

Form and metre

The Growing of the Hemp is 49 lines in 21 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 82% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.0 syllables. 10% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 room^A · gloom^A
2 AAA five^A · alive^A · thrive^A
3 AA ground^A · around^A
4 AAA afraid^A · glade^A · spade^A
5 AAA near^A · drear^A · fear^A
6 AAA glean^A · seen^A · green^A
7 AA caribbees^A · knees^A
8 AA alone^A · stone^A
9 AA roar^A · before^A
10 AA pass^A · grass^A
11 AAA eyes^A · rise^A · skies^A
12 AA ship^A · grip^A
13 AA grace^A · face^A
14 AA thrown^A · grown^A
15 AA mark^A · dark^A
17 AAA beam^A · gleam^A · stream^A
18 AA caribbees^A · seas^A
19 AA chair^A · hair^A
20 AA pass^A · glass^A
21 AAA sun^A · spun^A · done^A

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
Sir Henry stood in the manor room,	9	·/˘···/˘·
And his eyes were hard gems in the gloom.	9	·········
And he said, "Go dig me furrows five	9	······/˘·
Where the green marsh creeps like a thing alive --	10	········˘/
There at its edge, where the rushes thrive."	9	······/˘·
And where the furrows rent the ground,	8	···/˘···
He sowed the seed of hemp around.	9	··˘······
And the blacks shrink back and are sore afraid	10	········˘/
At the furrows five that rib the glade,	9	··/˘·····
And the voodoo work of the master's spade.	10	··/····/˘·
For a cold wind blows from the marshland near,	10	·······/··
And white things move, and the night grows drear,	9	·········
And they chatter and crouch and are sick with fear.	11	··/˘·······
But down by the marsh, where the gray slaves glean,	10	··········
The hemp sprouts up, and the earth is seen	9	·········
Veiled with a tenuous mist of green.	10	·˘··/˘˘···
And Hawk still scourges the Caribbees,	8	···/˘···
And many men kneel at his knees.	8	·/˘·····
Sir Henry sits in his house alone,	9	·/˘····˘/
And his eyes are hard and dull like stone.	9	·········
And the waves beat, and the winds roar,	8	········
And all things are as they were before.	9	·········
And the days pass, and the weeks pass,	8	········
And nothing changes but the grass.	8	·/˘/˘···
But down where the fireflies are like eyes,	10	····/˘····
And the damps shudder, and the mists rise,	9	···/˘····
The hemp-stalks stand up toward the skies.	9	·········
And down from the poop of the pirate ship	10	·······/˘·
A body falls, and the great sharks grip.	9	·/˘······
Innocent, lovely, go in grace!	8	/˘˘/˘···
At last there is peace upon your face.	9	·········
And Hawk laughs loud as the corpse is thrown,	9	·········
"The hemp that shall hang me is not grown!"	9	·········
Sir Henry's face is iron to mark,	9	·/˘··/˘··
And he gazes ever in the dark.	9	··/˘/˘···
And the days pass, and the weeks pass,	8	········
And the world is as it always was.	9	······/··
But down by the marsh the sickles beam,	9	······/˘·
Glitter on glitter, gleam on gleam,	8	/˘·/˘···
And the hemp falls down by the stagnant stream.	10	·······/˘·
And Hawk beats up from the Caribbees,	8	········
Swooping to pounce in the Northern seas.	9	/˘····/˘·
Sir Henry sits sunk deep in his chair,	9	·/˘······
And white as his hand is grown his hair.	9	·········
And the days pass, and the weeks pass,	8	········
And the sands roll from the hour-glass.	9	······/˘·
But down by the marsh in the blazing sun	10	·······/˘·
The hemp is smoothed and twisted and spun,	10	····˘·/˘··
The rope made, and the work done.	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.

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