A Wet Season
The rain is fierce, it flogs the earth,And man's in danger.O that my mother at my birthHad borne a stranger!The flooded ground is all around.The depth uncommon.How blest I'd be if only sheHad borne a salmon.
If still denied the solar glow'T were bliss ecstaticTo be amphibious--but O,To be aquatic!We're worms, men say, o' the dust, and theyThat faith are firm of.O, then, be just: show me some dustTo be a worm of.
The pines are chanting overheadA psalm uncheering.It's O, to have been for ages deadAnd hard of hearing!Restore, ye Pow'rs, the last bright hoursThe dial reckoned;'Twas in the time of Egypt's prime--Rameses II.
About this text
A Wet Season is in the public domain. This text is taken from Shapes of Clay (1903), Project Gutenberg ebook #12658; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ambrose Bierce, A Wet Season, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/a-wet-season.html, id L28203.
Form and metre
A Wet Season 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%).
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 ABAB---- earthA · dangerB · birthA · strangerB · around · uncommon · she · salmon
- 2 ABAB-C-C glowA · ecstaticB · oA · aquaticB · they · ofC · dust · ofC
- 3 ABAB---- overheadA · uncheeringB · deadA · hearingB · hours · reckoned · prime · ii
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 rain is fierce, it flogs the earth, | 8 | ········ |
| And man's in danger. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| O that my mother at my birth | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Had borne a stranger! | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The flooded ground is all around. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The depth uncommon. | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| How blest I'd be if only she | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Had borne a salmon. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| If still denied the solar glow | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| 'T were bliss ecstatic | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| To be amphibious--but O, | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| To be aquatic! | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| We're worms, men say, o' the dust, and they | 9 | ········· |
| That faith are firm of. | 5 | ····· |
| O, then, be just: show me some dust | 8 | ········ |
| To be a worm of. | 5 | ····· |
| The pines are chanting overhead | 8 | ···/˘/˘/ |
| A psalm uncheering. | 5 | ····· |
| It's O, to have been for ages dead | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And hard of hearing! | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Restore, ye Pow'rs, the last bright hours | 9 | ˘/·····/˘ |
| The dial reckoned; | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| 'Twas in the time of Egypt's prime-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Rameses II. | 4 | /˘·· |
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.