The Crowded Street
Let me move slowly through the street,Filled with an ever-shifting train,Amid the sound of steps that beatThe murmuring walks like autumn rain.
How fast the flitting figures come!The mild, the fierce, the stony face;Some bright with thoughtless smiles, and someWhere secret tears have left their trace.
They pass--to toil, to strife, to rest;To halls in which the feast is spread;To chambers where the funeral guestIn silence sits beside the dead.
And some to happy homes repair,Where children, pressing cheek to cheek,With mute caresses shall declareThe tenderness they cannot speak.
And some, who walk in calmness here,Shall shudder as they reach the doorWhere one who made their dwelling dear,Its flower, its light, is seen no more.
Youth, with pale cheek and slender frame,And dreams of greatness in thine eye!Goest thou to build an early name,Or early in the task to die?
Keen son of trade, with eager brow!Who is now fluttering in thy snare?Thy golden fortunes, tower they now,Or melt the glittering spires in air?
Who of this crowd to-night shall treadThe dance till daylight gleam again?Who sorrow o'er the untimely dead?Who writhe in throes of mortal pain?
Some, famine-struck, shall think how longThe cold dark hours, how slow the light,And some, who flaunt amid the throng,Shall hide in dens of shame to-night.
Each, where his tasks or pleasures call,They pass, and heed each other not.There is who heeds, who holds them all,In his large love and boundless thought.
These struggling tides of life that seemIn wayward, aimless course to tend,Are eddies of the mighty streamThat rolls to its appointed end.
Words in this poem
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- flitting n.
- A flying with lightness and celerity; a fluttering.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- daylight n.
- The light of day as opposed to the darkness of night; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or to artificial light.
- famine n.
- General scarcity of food; dearth; a want of provisions; destitution. [F. famine, fr. L. fames hunger; cf. Gr. hani loss, lack, ha to leave.]
- flaunt n.
- Anything displayed for show.
- wayward a.
- Taking one's own way; disobedient; froward; perverse; willful. [OE. weiward, for aweiward, i. e., turned away. See Away, and -ward.]
- aimless a.
- Without aim or purpose; as, an aimless life.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Crowded Street 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, The Crowded Street, in Poems (1821–1876), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16341, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bryant-poems/the-crowded-street.html, id L07367.
Form and metre
The Crowded Street is 44 lines in 11 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 10 of its 11 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 20% 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 streetA · trainB · beatA · rainB
- 2 ABAB comeA · faceB · someA · traceB
- 3 ABAB restA · spreadB · guestA · deadB
- 4 ABAB repairA · cheekB · declareA · speakB
- 5 ABAB hereA · doorB · dearA · moreB
- 6 ABAB frameA · eyeB · nameA · dieB
- 7 ABAB browA · snareB · nowA · airB
- 8 ABAB treadA · againB · deadA · painB
- 9 ABAB longA · lightB · throngA · nightB
- 10 A-A- callA · not · allA · thought
- 11 ABAB seemA · tendB · streamA · endB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Let me move slowly through the street, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Filled with an ever-shifting train, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Amid the sound of steps that beat | 8 | ˘/······ |
| The murmuring walks like autumn rain. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| How fast the flitting figures come! | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The mild, the fierce, the stony face; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Some bright with thoughtless smiles, and some | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Where secret tears have left their trace. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| They pass--to toil, to strife, to rest; | 8 | ········ |
| To halls in which the feast is spread; | 8 | ········ |
| To chambers where the funeral guest | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| In silence sits beside the dead. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| And some to happy homes repair, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Where children, pressing cheek to cheek, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| With mute caresses shall declare | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| The tenderness they cannot speak. | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| And some, who walk in calmness here, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Shall shudder as they reach the door | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Where one who made their dwelling dear, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Its flower, its light, is seen no more. | 8 | ·/······ |
| Youth, with pale cheek and slender frame, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And dreams of greatness in thine eye! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Goest thou to build an early name, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or early in the task to die? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Keen son of trade, with eager brow! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Who is now fluttering in thy snare? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thy golden fortunes, tower they now, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/·· |
| Or melt the glittering spires in air? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Who of this crowd to-night shall tread | 8 | ········ |
| The dance till daylight gleam again? | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| Who sorrow o'er the untimely dead? | 9 | ·/˘··˘/˘· |
| Who writhe in throes of mortal pain? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Some, famine-struck, shall think how long | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The cold dark hours, how slow the light, | 8 | ···/···· |
| And some, who flaunt amid the throng, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Shall hide in dens of shame to-night. | 8 | ········ |
| Each, where his tasks or pleasures call, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| They pass, and heed each other not. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| There is who heeds, who holds them all, | 8 | ········ |
| In his large love and boundless thought. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| These struggling tides of life that seem | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In wayward, aimless course to tend, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Are eddies of the mighty stream | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That rolls to its appointed end. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
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