"Earth's Children Cleave to Earth"
Earth's children cleave to Earth--her frailDecaying children dread decay.Yon wreath of mist that leaves the vale,And lessens in the morning ray:Look, how, by mountain rivulet,It lingers as it upward creeps,And clings to fern and copsewood setAlong the green and dewy steeps:Clings to the fragrant kalmia, clingsTo precipices fringed with grass,Dark maples where the wood-thrush sings,And bowers of fragrant sassafras.Yet all in vain--it passes stillFrom hold to hold, it cannot stay,And in the very beams that fillThe world with glory, wastes away,Till, parting from the mountain's brow,It vanishes from human eye,And that which sprung of earth is nowA portion of the glorious sky.
Words in this poem
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- copsewood n.
- Brushwood; coppice.
- kalmia n.
- A genus of North American shrubs with poisonous evergreen foliage and corymbs of showy flowers. Called also mountain laurel, ivy bush, lamb kill, calico bush, etc. [NL. Named in honor of Peter Kalm, a Swedish botanist.]
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
"Earth's Children Cleave to Earth" is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by William Cullen Bryant, Project Gutenberg ebook #16341; 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 Cullen Bryant, "Earth's Children Cleave to Earth", in Poems (1821–1876), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16341, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bryant-poems/earth-s-children-cleave-to-earth.html, id L07348.
Form and metre
"Earth's Children Cleave to Earth" is 20 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 ABABC-C-DEDEFBFBGHGH frailA · decayB · valeA · rayB · rivuletC · creeps · setC · steeps · clingsD · grassE · singsD · sassafrasE · stillF · stayB · fillF · awayB · browG · eyeH · nowG · skyH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Earth's children cleave to Earth--her frail | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Decaying children dread decay. | 8 | ˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Yon wreath of mist that leaves the vale, | 8 | ········ |
| And lessens in the morning ray: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Look, how, by mountain rivulet, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| It lingers as it upward creeps, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And clings to fern and copsewood set | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Along the green and dewy steeps: | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Clings to the fragrant kalmia, clings | 9 | ···/˘/˘˘· |
| To precipices fringed with grass, | 9 | ·/˘˘˘·˘·· |
| Dark maples where the wood-thrush sings, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And bowers of fragrant sassafras. | 9 | ·/˘·/˘/˘· |
| Yet all in vain--it passes still | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| From hold to hold, it cannot stay, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And in the very beams that fill | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The world with glory, wastes away, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Till, parting from the mountain's brow, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| It vanishes from human eye, | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| And that which sprung of earth is now | 8 | ········ |
| A portion of the glorious sky. | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
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.