Up the Line
Through blinding storm and clouds of night,We swiftly pushed our restless flight;With thundering hoof and warning neigh,We urged our steed upon his wayUp the line.
Afar the lofty head-light gleamed;Afar the whistle shrieked and screamed;And glistening bright, and rising high,Our flakes of fire bestrewed the sky,Up the line.
Adown the long, complaining track,Our wheels a message hurried back;And quivering through the rails ahead,Went news of our resistless tread,Up the line.
The trees gave back our din and shout,And flung their shadow arms about;And shivering in their coats of gray,They heard us roaring far away,Up the line.
The wailing storm came on apace,And dashed its tears into our fade;But steadily still we pierced it through,And cut the sweeping wind in two,Up the line.
A rattling rush across the ridge,A thunder-peal beneath the bridge;And valley and hill and sober plainRe-echoed our triumphant strain,Up the line.
And when the Eastern streaks of grayBespoke the dawn of coming day,We halted our steed, his journey o'er,And urged his giant form no more,Up the line.
Words in this poem
- thundering a.
- Emitting thunder.
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- adown adv.
- From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [OE. adun, adoun, adune. AS. of dune off the hill. See Down.]
- ahead adv.
- In or to the front; in advance; onward. [Pref. a- + head.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- resistless a.
- Having no power to resist; making no opposition.
- apace adv.
- With a quick pace; quick; fast; speedily. [Pref. a- + pace. OE. a pas at a walk, in which a is the article. See Pace.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Up the Line is in the public domain. This text is taken from Farm Ballads, Project Gutenberg ebook #9500; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Will Carleton, Up the Line, in Farm Ballads (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9500, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/carleton-farm-ballads/up-the-line.html, id L23289.
Form and metre
Up the Line is 35 lines in 7 stanzas of 5 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 69% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AABB- nightA · flightA · neighB · wayB · line
- 2 AABB- gleamedA · screamedA · highB · skyB · line
- 3 AABB- trackA · backA · aheadB · treadB · line
- 4 AABB- shoutA · aboutA · grayB · awayB · line
- 5 --AA- apace · fade · throughA · twoA · line
- 6 AABB- ridgeA · bridgeA · plainB · strainB · line
- 7 AA--- grayA · dayA · o'er · more · line
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Through blinding storm and clouds of night, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| We swiftly pushed our restless flight; | 9 | ·/˘·/˘/˘· |
| With thundering hoof and warning neigh, | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| We urged our steed upon his way | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Up the line. | 3 | ··· |
| Afar the lofty head-light gleamed; | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Afar the whistle shrieked and screamed; | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| And glistening bright, and rising high, | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| Our flakes of fire bestrewed the sky, | 10 | /˘··/˘···· |
| Up the line. | 3 | ··· |
| Adown the long, complaining track, | 8 | ˘/··˘/˘· |
| Our wheels a message hurried back; | 9 | /˘··/˘/˘· |
| And quivering through the rails ahead, | 9 | ·/˘˘···˘/ |
| Went news of our resistless tread, | 9 | ···/˘˘/˘· |
| Up the line. | 3 | ··· |
| The trees gave back our din and shout, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| And flung their shadow arms about; | 8 | ···/···· |
| And shivering in their coats of gray, | 9 | ·/˘˘····· |
| They heard us roaring far away, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Up the line. | 3 | ··· |
| The wailing storm came on apace, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And dashed its tears into our fade; | 9 | ······/˘· |
| But steadily still we pierced it through, | 9 | ·/˘˘····· |
| And cut the sweeping wind in two, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Up the line. | 3 | ··· |
| A rattling rush across the ridge, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| A thunder-peal beneath the bridge; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And valley and hill and sober plain | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Re-echoed our triumphant strain, | 9 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘· |
| Up the line. | 3 | ··· |
| And when the Eastern streaks of gray | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Bespoke the dawn of coming day, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| We halted our steed, his journey o'er, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And urged his giant form no more, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Up the line. | 3 | ··· |
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.