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"Thus the Mayne Glideth"

trochaic tetrameter · 29 lines · from Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning

Thus the Mayne glidethWhere my Love abideth.Sleep's no softer; it proceedsOn through lawns, on through meads,On and on, whate'er befall,Meandering and musical,Though the niggard pasturageBears not on its shaven ledgeAught but weeds and waving grassesTo view the river as it passes,Save here and there a scanty patchOf primroses too faint to catchA weary bee.And scarce it pushesIts gentle way through strangling rushesWhere the glossy kingfisherFlutters when noon-heats are near,Glad the shelving banks to shun,Red and steaming in the sun,Where the shrew-mouse with pale throatBurrows, and the speckled stoat;Where the quick sandpipers flitIn and out the marl and gritThat seems to breed them, brown as they.Naught disturbs its quiet way,Save some lazy stork that springs,Trailing it with legs and wings,Whom the shy fox from the hillRouses, creep he ne'er so still.

Words in this poem

pasturage n.: Grazing ground; grass land used for pasturing; pasture. [OF. pasturage, F. pâturage. See Pasture.]
aught n.: Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
scarce a.: Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
shelving a.: Sloping gradually; inclining; as, a shelving shore.
stoat n.: The ermine in its summer pelage, when it is reddish brown, but with a black tip to the tail. The name is sometimes applied also to other brown weasels. [OE. stot a stoat, horse, bullock; perhaps originally only of male animals, and akin to D. stooten to push, E. stutter; cf. Icel. st a bull, Sw. stut a bullock. ]
flit a.: Nimble; quick; swift. See Fleet.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

"Thus the Mayne Glideth" 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, "Thus the Mayne Glideth", in Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning (1864), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #28041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/browning-selections/thus-the-mayne-glideth.html, id L25076.

Form and metre

"Thus the Mayne Glideth" is 29 lines in a single stanza. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).

See other poems in trochaic 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 --AABB--CCDD-----EEFFGGHHIIJJ glideth · abideth · proceeds^A · meads^A · befall^B · musical^B · pasturage · ledge · grasses^C · passes^C · patch^D · catch^D · bee · pushes · rushes · kingfisher · near · shun^E · sun^E · throat^F · stoat^F · flit^G · grit^G · they^H · way^H · springs^I · wings^I · hill^J · still^J

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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
Thus the Mayne glideth	5	···/˘
Where my Love abideth.	6	···/˘˘
Sleep's no softer; it proceeds	7	··/˘·˘/
On through lawns, on through meads,	6	······
On and on, whate'er befall,	8	···˘˘/˘/
Meandering and musical,	8	˘/˘˘·/˘˘
Though the niggard pasturage	7	··/˘/˘˘
Bears not on its shaven ledge	7	····/˘·
Aught but weeds and waving grasses	8	····/˘/˘
To view the river as it passes,	9	···/˘··/˘
Save here and there a scanty patch	8	·····/˘·
Of primroses too faint to catch	8	·/·˘····
A weary bee.	4	·/˘·
And scarce it pushes	5	···/˘
Its gentle way through strangling rushes	9	·/˘··/˘/˘
Where the glossy kingfisher	7	··/˘/·˘
Flutters when noon-heats are near,	7	/˘·····
Glad the shelving banks to shun,	7	··/˘···
Red and steaming in the sun,	7	··/˘···
Where the shrew-mouse with pale throat	7	·······
Burrows, and the speckled stoat;	7	/˘··/˘·
Where the quick sandpipers flit	7	·······
In and out the marl and grit	7	·······
That seems to breed them, brown as they.	8	········
Naught disturbs its quiet way,	7	·˘/·/˘·
Save some lazy stork that springs,	7	··/˘···
Trailing it with legs and wings,	7	/˘·····
Whom the shy fox from the hill	7	·······
Rouses, creep he ne'er so still.	7	/˘·····

On this poem

In Book V Paracelsus is described as lying ill in the Hospital of St. Sebastian. Festus is endeavoring to divert the current of his dying friend's fierce, delirious thoughts into a gentler channel. He brings up one picture after another of the early happy life of Paracelsus, and dwells on the grandeur of his mind and achievements, and on the fame that shall be his. But the desired peace comes only when Festus sings the song of the river Mayne beside which their youth had been spent. At the end of the song Paracelsus exclaims, "My heart! they loose my heart, those simple words; Its darkness passes which naught else could touch." The Mayne, or Main, is the most important of the right-hand tributaries of the Rhine. Wurzburg, where Festus and Paracelsus had been as students, is on its banks. Its University was especially noted for its medical department. Mr. Stopford Brooke (The Poetry of Robert Browning, p. 99) says of this lovely lyric: "I have driven through that gracious country of low hill and dale and wide water-meadows, where under flowered banks only a foot high the slow river winds in gentleness; and this poem is steeped in the sentiment of the scenery. But, as before, Browning quickly slides away from the beauty of inanimate nature into a record of the animals that haunt the streams. He could not get on long with mountains and rivers alone. He must people them with breathing, feeling things; anything for life!"

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.

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