The Ghost-yard of the Goldenrod
When the first silent frost has trodThe ghost-yard of the goldenrod,
And laid the blight of his cold handUpon the warm autumnal land,
And all things wait the subtle changeThat men call death, is it not strange
That I--without a care or need,Who only am an idle weed--
Should wait unmoved, so frail, so bold,The coming of the final cold!
Words in this poem
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- unmoved a.
- Not moved; fixed; firm; unshaken; calm; apathetic.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Ghost-yard of the Goldenrod is in the public domain. This text is taken from Later Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #33417; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Bliss Carman, The Ghost-yard of the Goldenrod, in Later Poems (1921), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #33417, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/carman-later-poems/the-ghost-yard-of-the-goldenrod.html, id L11066.
Form and metre
The Ghost-yard of the Goldenrod is 10 lines in 5 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 40% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AA trodA · goldenrodA
- 2 AA handA · landA
- 3 AA changeA · strangeA
- 4 AA needA · weedA
- 5 AA boldA · coldA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When the first silent frost has trod | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The ghost-yard of the goldenrod, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And laid the blight of his cold hand | 8 | ········ |
| Upon the warm autumnal land, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| And all things wait the subtle change | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That men call death, is it not strange | 8 | ········ |
| That I--without a care or need, | 8 | ········ |
| Who only am an idle weed-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Should wait unmoved, so frail, so bold, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| The coming of the final cold! | 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.