The Ocean
Were I a cloud I'd gatherMy skirts up in the air,And fly I well know whither,And rest I well know where.
As pointed the star surely,The legend tells of old,Where the wise kings might offerMyrrh, frankincense, and gold;
Above the house I'd hoverWhere dwells my love, and waitTill haply I might spy herThrow back the garden-gate.
There in the summer eveningI would bedeck the moon;I would float down and screen herFrom the sun's rays at noon;
And if her flowers should languish,Or wither in the droughtUpon her tall white liliesI'd pour my heart's blood out:
So if she wore one only,And shook not out the rain,Were I a cloud, O cloudlet,I had not lived in vain.
Words in this poem
- whither adv.
- To what place; -- used interrogatively; as, whither goest thou [OE. whider. AS. hwider; akin to E. where, who; cf. Goth. hvadre whither. See Who, and cf. Hither, Thither.]
- hover n.
- A cover; a shelter; a protection. Carew. C. Kingsley. [Etymol. doubtful.]
- haply adv.
- By hap, chance, luck, or accident; perhaps; it may be.
- bedeck v. t.
- To deck, ornament, or adorn; to grace.
- languish v. i.
- To cause to dr Shak.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- cloudlet n.
- A little cloud. R. Browning.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Ocean is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Robert Bridges, Excluding the Eight Dramas, Project Gutenberg ebook #37804; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Bridges, The Ocean, in The Growth of Love, and Other Poems (1873–1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37804, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bridges-shorter-poems/the-ocean.html, id L01750.
Form and metre
The Ocean is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.5 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 -A-A gather · airA · whither · whereA
- 2 -A-A surely · oldA · offer · goldA
- 3 -A-A hover · waitA · her · gateA
- 4 -A-A evening · moonA · her · noonA
- 5 -A-A languish · droughtA · lilies · outA
- 6 -A-A only · rainA · cloudlet · vainA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Were I a cloud I'd gather | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| My skirts up in the air, | 6 | ······ |
| And fly I well know whither, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And rest I well know where. | 6 | ······ |
| As pointed the star surely, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| The legend tells of old, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Where the wise kings might offer | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Myrrh, frankincense, and gold; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Above the house I'd hover | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Where dwells my love, and wait | 6 | ······ |
| Till haply I might spy her | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Throw back the garden-gate. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| There in the summer evening | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| I would bedeck the moon; | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| I would float down and screen her | 7 | ······· |
| From the sun's rays at noon; | 6 | ······ |
| And if her flowers should languish, | 7 | ···/·/˘ |
| Or wither in the drought | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Upon her tall white lilies | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| I'd pour my heart's blood out: | 6 | ······ |
| So if she wore one only, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And shook not out the rain, | 6 | ······ |
| Were I a cloud, O cloudlet, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| I had not lived in vain. | 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.