From the Same Idyl
Mark, where the beetling precipice appears,The toil of the old fisher, gray with years;Mark, as to drag the laden net he strains,The labouring muscle and the swelling veins!There, in the sun, the clustered vineyard bends,And shines empurpled, as the morn ascends!A little boy, with idly-happy mien,To guard the grapes upon the ground is seen;Two wily foxes creeping round appear,--The scrip that holds his morning meal is near,--One breaks the bending vines; with longing lip,And look askance, one eyes the tempting scrip.He plats and plats his rushy net all day,And makes the vagrant grasshopper his prey;He plats his net, intent with idle care,Nor heeds how vineyard, grape, or scrip may fare.
Words in this poem
- precipice n.
- A sudden or headlong fall. Fuller. [F. précipice, L. praecipitium, fr. praeceps, - cipitis, headlong; prae before + caput, capitis, the head. See Pre-, and Chief.]
- labouring a.
- That labors; performing labor; esp., performing coarse, heavy work, not requiring skill also, set apart for labor; as, laboring days.
- vineyard n.
- An inclosure or yard for grapevines; a plantation of vines producing grapes. [For OE. winyard, AS. wingeard; influenced by E. vine. See Wine, and Yard an inclosure.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- scrip n.
- A small bag; a wallet; a satchel. [OE. scrippe, probably of Scand. origin; cf. Icel. & OSw. skreppa, and also LL. scrippum, OF. esquerpe, escrepe, F. écharpe scarf. Cf. Scarp, Scarf a piece of dr]
- askance adv.
- Sideways; obliquely; with a side glance; with disdain, envy, or suspicion. [Cf. D. schuin, schuins, sideways, schuiven to shove, schuinte slope. Cf. Asquint.]
- rushy a.
- Abounding with rushes.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
From the Same Idyl is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. 1 With Memoir, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by George Gilfillan, Project Gutenberg ebook #18915; 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 Lisle Bowles, From the Same Idyl, in The Poetical Works, Volume I (1789–1837), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18915, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bowles-sonnets/from-the-same-idyl.html, id L09962.
Form and metre
From the Same Idyl is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables.
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH appearsA · yearsA · strainsB · veinsB · bendsC · ascendsC · mienD · seenD · appearE · nearE · lipF · scripF · dayG · preyG · careH · fareH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Mark, where the beetling precipice appears, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| The toil of the old fisher, gray with years; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Mark, as to drag the laden net he strains, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The labouring muscle and the swelling veins! | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| There, in the sun, the clustered vineyard bends, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And shines empurpled, as the morn ascends! | 10 | ····˘···˘/ |
| A little boy, with idly-happy mien, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| To guard the grapes upon the ground is seen; | 10 | ·········· |
| Two wily foxes creeping round appear,-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The scrip that holds his morning meal is near,-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| One breaks the bending vines; with longing lip, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And look askance, one eyes the tempting scrip. | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| He plats and plats his rushy net all day, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And makes the vagrant grasshopper his prey; | 10 | ···/˘/·˘·· |
| He plats his net, intent with idle care, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| Nor heeds how vineyard, grape, or scrip may fare. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
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.