"Such a Starved Bank of Moss"
Such a starved bank of mossTill, that May-morn,Blue ran the flash across:Violets were born!
Sky--what a scowl of cloudTill, near and far,Ray on ray split the shroud:Splendid, a star!
World--how it walled aboutLife with disgraceTill God's own smile came out:That was thy face!
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- scowl v. i.
- To wrinkle the brows, as in frowning or displeasure; to put on a frowning look; to look sour, sullen, severe, or angry. [Akin to Dan. skule; cf. Icel. skolla to skulk, LG. schulen to hide one's self, D. schuilen, G. schielen to squint, Dan. skele, Sw. skela, AS. sceolh squinting. ]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
"Such a Starved Bank of Moss" is in the public domain. This text is taken from Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning, Project Gutenberg ebook #28041; 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 Browning, "Such a Starved Bank of Moss", in Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning (1864), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #28041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/browning-selections/such-a-starved-bank-of-moss.html, id L25123.
Form and metre
"Such a Starved Bank of Moss" is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 ABAB mossA · mornB · acrossA · bornB
- 2 ABAB cloudA · farB · shroudA · starB
- 3 ABAB aboutA · disgraceB · outA · faceB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Such a starved bank of moss | 6 | ······ |
| Till, that May-morn, | 4 | ···· |
| Blue ran the flash across: | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Violets were born! | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| Sky--what a scowl of cloud | 6 | ······ |
| Till, near and far, | 4 | ···· |
| Ray on ray split the shroud: | 6 | ······ |
| Splendid, a star! | 4 | /˘·· |
| World--how it walled about | 6 | ······ |
| Life with disgrace | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Till God's own smile came out: | 6 | ······ |
| That was thy face! | 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.