From the Spanish of Pedro De Castro Y Anaya
Stay, rivulet, nor haste to leaveThe lovely vale that lies around thee.Why wouldst thou be a sea at eve,When but a fount the morning found thee?
Born when the skies began to glow,Humblest of all the rock's cold daughters,No blossom bowed its stalk to showWhere stole thy still and scanty waters.
Now on thy stream the noonbeams look,Usurping, as thou downward driftest,Its crystal from the clearest brook,Its rushing current from the swiftest.
Ah! what wild haste!--and all to beA river and expire in ocean.Each fountain's tribute hurries theeTo that vast grave with quicker motion.
Far better 'twere to linger stillIn this green vale, these flowers to cherish,And die in peace, an aged rill,Than thus, a youthful Danube, perish.
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.]
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- hurries n.
- A staith or framework from which coal is discharged from cars into vessels.
- rill n.
- A very small brook; a streamlet. [Cf. LG. rille a small channel or brook, a furrow, a chamfer, OE. rigol a small brook, F. rigole a trench or furrow for water, W. rhill a row, rhigol a little di]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
From the Spanish of Pedro De Castro Y Anaya 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, From the Spanish of Pedro De Castro Y Anaya, in Poems (1821–1876), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16341, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bryant-poems/from-the-spanish-of-pedro-de-castro-y-anaya.html, id L07334.
Form and metre
From the Spanish of Pedro De Castro Y Anaya is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.6 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% 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 ABAB leaveA · theeB · eveA · theeB
- 2 ABAB glowA · daughtersB · showA · watersB
- 3 A-A- lookA · driftest · brookA · swiftest
- 4 ABAB beA · oceanB · theeA · motionB
- 5 ABAB stillA · cherishB · rillA · perishB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Stay, rivulet, nor haste to leave | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| The lovely vale that lies around thee. | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Why wouldst thou be a sea at eve, | 8 | ········ |
| When but a fount the morning found thee? | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Born when the skies began to glow, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Humblest of all the rock's cold daughters, | 10 | /˘˘·····/˘ |
| No blossom bowed its stalk to show | 9 | ·/˘·˘···· |
| Where stole thy still and scanty waters. | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Now on thy stream the noonbeams look, | 8 | ········ |
| Usurping, as thou downward driftest, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Its crystal from the clearest brook, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Its rushing current from the swiftest. | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Ah! what wild haste!--and all to be | 8 | ········ |
| A river and expire in ocean. | 9 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| Each fountain's tribute hurries thee | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| To that vast grave with quicker motion. | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Far better 'twere to linger still | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| In this green vale, these flowers to cherish, | 10 | ·····/˘·/˘ |
| And die in peace, an aged rill, | 7 | ······· |
| Than thus, a youthful Danube, perish. | 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.