Contemplation
I muse upon the distant townIn many a dreamy mood.Above my head the sunbeams crownThe graveyard's giant rood.The lupin blooms among the tombs.The quail recalls her brood.
Ah, good it is to sit and traceThe shadow of the cross;It moves so still from place to placeO'er marble, bronze and moss;With graves to mark upon its arcOur time's eternal loss.
And sweet it is to watch the beeThat reve's in the rose,And sense the fragrance floating freeOn every breeze that blowsO'er many a mound, where, safe and sound,Mine enemies repose.
Words in this poem
- dreamy a.
- Abounding in dreams or given to dreaming; appropriate to, or like, dreams; visionary.
- rood n.
- A representation in sculpture or in painting of the cross with Christ hanging on it. [AS. rr, D. roede rod, G. ruthe, rute, OHG. ruota. CF. Rod a measure.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Contemplation 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, Contemplation, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/contemplation.html, id L28005.
Form and metre
Contemplation is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 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-B townA · moodB · crownA · roodB · tombs · broodB
- 2 ABAB-B traceA · crossB · placeA · mossB · arc · lossB
- 3 ABAB-B beeA · roseB · freeA · blowsB · sound · reposeB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I muse upon the distant town | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In many a dreamy mood. | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Above my head the sunbeams crown | 8 | ·····/·· |
| The graveyard's giant rood. | 6 | ·/·/˘· |
| The lupin blooms among the tombs. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The quail recalls her brood. | 6 | ··/··· |
| Ah, good it is to sit and trace | 8 | ········ |
| The shadow of the cross; | 6 | ·/···· |
| It moves so still from place to place | 8 | ········ |
| O'er marble, bronze and moss; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| With graves to mark upon its arc | 8 | ········ |
| Our time's eternal loss. | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| And sweet it is to watch the bee | 8 | ········ |
| That reve's in the rose, | 5 | ····· |
| And sense the fragrance floating free | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| On every breeze that blows | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| O'er many a mound, where, safe and sound, | 8 | ·/······ |
| Mine enemies repose. | 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.