Inscription
Come, and where these runnels fall,Listen to my madrigal!Far from all sounds of all the strife,That murmur through the walks of life;From grief, inquietude, and fears,From scenes of riot, or of tears;From passions, cankering day by day,That wear the inmost heart away;From pale Detraction's envious spite,That worries where it fears to bite;From mad Ambition's worldly chase,Come, and in this shady place,Be thine Contentment's humble joys,And a life that makes no noise,Save when fancy, musing long,Turns to desultory song;And wakes some lonely melody,Like the water dripping by.Come, and where these runnels fall,Listen to my madrigal!
Words in this poem
- madrigal n.
- A little amorous poem, sometimes called a pastoral poem, containing some tender and delicate, though simple, thought. [It. madrigale, OIt. madriale, mandriale (cf. LL. matriale); of uncertain origin, possibly fr. It mandra flock, L. mandra stall, herd of cattle, Gr. madrigal, or]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- inquietude n.
- Disturbed state; uneasiness either of body or mind; restlessness; disquietude. Sir H. Wotton. [L. inquietudo: cf. F. inquietude.]
- inmost a.
- Deepest within; farthest from the surface or external part; innermost. [OE. innemest, AS. innemest, a double superlative form fr. inne within, fr. in in. The modern form is due to confusion with most. See In, and cf. Aftermost, Fore]
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
- desultory a.
- Leaping or skipping about. [L. desultorius, fr. desultor a leaper, fr. desilire, desultum, to leap down; de + salire to leap. See Saltation.]
- dripping n.
- A falling in drops, or the sound so made.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Inscription 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, Inscription, in The Poetical Works, Volume I (1789–1837), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18915, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bowles-sonnets/inscription.html, id L09959.
Form and metre
Inscription is 20 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 70% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 ABCCDDEEFFGGHHII--AB fallA · madrigalB · strifeC · lifeC · fearsD · tearsD · dayE · awayE · spiteF · biteF · chaseG · placeG · joysH · noiseH · longI · songI · melody · by · fallA · madrigalB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Come, and where these runnels fall, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Listen to my madrigal! | 7 | /˘··/˘˘ |
| Far from all sounds of all the strife, | 8 | ········ |
| That murmur through the walks of life; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| From grief, inquietude, and fears, | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| From scenes of riot, or of tears; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| From passions, cankering day by day, | 9 | ·/˘/˘˘··· |
| That wear the inmost heart away; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| From pale Detraction's envious spite, | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| That worries where it fears to bite; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| From mad Ambition's worldly chase, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Come, and in this shady place, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Be thine Contentment's humble joys, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| And a life that makes no noise, | 7 | ······· |
| Save when fancy, musing long, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Turns to desultory song; | 7 | ··/˘·˘· |
| And wakes some lonely melody, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Like the water dripping by. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Come, and where these runnels fall, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Listen to my madrigal! | 7 | /˘··/˘˘ |
Notes from the edition 1
Bowles's own notes to his Poetical Works (Project Gutenberg #18915).
- Line 16 "And Fancy, void of sorrow, turns to song."--Parnell.
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.