Supposed to Be Written at a Hamlet Near the Foot of Mont Blanc
Not from the sands or cloven rocks,Thou rapid Arve! thy waters flow;Nor earth, within her bosom, locksThy dark unfathomed wells below.Thy springs are in the cloud, thy streamBegins to move and murmur firstWhere ice-peaks feel the noonday beam,Or rain-storms on the glacier burst.
Born where the thunder and the blast,And morning's earliest light are born,Thou rushest swoln, and loud, and fast,By these low homes, as if in scorn:Yet humbler springs yield purer waves;And brighter, glassier streams than thine,Sent up from earth's unlighted caves,With heaven's own beam and image shine.
Yet stay; for here are flowers and trees;Warm rays on cottage roofs are here,And laugh of girls, and hum of bees--Here linger till thy waves are clear.Thou heedest not--thou hastest on;From steep to steep thy torrent falls,Till, mingling with the mighty Rhone,It rests beneath Geneva's walls.
Rush on--but were there one with meThat loved me, I would light my hearthHere, where with God's own majestyAre touched the features of the earth.By these old peaks, white, high, and vast,Still rising as the tempests beat,Here would I dwell, and sleep, at last,Among the blossoms at their feet.
Words in this poem
- noonday n.
- Midday; twelve o'clock in the day; noon.
- swoln
- Contraction of Swollen, p. p.
- humbler n.
- One who, or that which, humbles some one.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Supposed to Be Written at a Hamlet Near the Foot of Mont Blanc 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, Supposed to Be Written at a Hamlet Near the Foot of Mont Blanc, in Poems (1821–1876), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16341, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bryant-poems/supposed-to-be-written-at-a-hamlet-near-the-foot-of-mont-bla.html, id L07317.
Form and metre
Supposed to Be Written at a Hamlet Near the Foot of Mont Blanc is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 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. 19% 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 ABABCDCD rocksA · flowB · locksA · belowB · streamC · firstD · beamC · burstD
- 2 ABABCDCD blastA · bornB · fastA · scornB · wavesC · thineD · cavesC · shineD
- 3 ABAB-C-C treesA · hereB · beesA · clearB · on · fallsC · rhone · wallsC
- 4 ----ABAB me · hearth · majesty · earth · vastA · beatB · lastA · feetB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Not from the sands or cloven rocks, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thou rapid Arve! thy waters flow; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Nor earth, within her bosom, locks | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thy dark unfathomed wells below. | 9 | ·····˘··· |
| Thy springs are in the cloud, thy stream | 8 | ········ |
| Begins to move and murmur first | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Where ice-peaks feel the noonday beam, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or rain-storms on the glacier burst. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Born where the thunder and the blast, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And morning's earliest light are born, | 9 | ·/˘/˘˘··· |
| Thou rushest swoln, and loud, and fast, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| By these low homes, as if in scorn: | 8 | ········ |
| Yet humbler springs yield purer waves; | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| And brighter, glassier streams than thine, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Sent up from earth's unlighted caves, | 8 | ········ |
| With heaven's own beam and image shine. | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Yet stay; for here are flowers and trees; | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Warm rays on cottage roofs are here, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And laugh of girls, and hum of bees-- | 8 | ········ |
| Here linger till thy waves are clear. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thou heedest not--thou hastest on; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| From steep to steep thy torrent falls, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Till, mingling with the mighty Rhone, | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| It rests beneath Geneva's walls. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Rush on--but were there one with me | 8 | ········ |
| That loved me, I would light my hearth | 9 | ··˘······ |
| Here, where with God's own majesty | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Are touched the features of the earth. | 9 | ··˘·/˘··· |
| By these old peaks, white, high, and vast, | 8 | ········ |
| Still rising as the tempests beat, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Here would I dwell, and sleep, at last, | 8 | ········ |
| Among the blossoms at their feet. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
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.