The God of the Wood
Here all the forces of the woodAs one converge,To make the soul of solitudeWhere all things merge.
The sun, the rain-wind, and the rain,The visiting moon,The hurrying cloud by peak and plain,Each with its boon.
Here power attains perfection stillIn mighty ease,That the great earth may have her willOf joy and peace.
And so through me, the mortal bornOf plasmic clay,Immortal powers, kind, fierce, forlorn,And glad, have sway.
Eternal passions, ardors fine,And monstrous fears,Rule and rebel, serene, malign,Or loosed in tears;
Until at last they shall evolveFrom griefs and joysSome steady light, some firm resolve,Some Godlike poise.
Words in this poem
- merge v. t.
- To cause to be swallowed up; to immerse; to sink; to absorb. [L. mergere, mersum. Cf. Emerge, Immerse, Marrow.]
- boon n.
- A prayer or petition. [OE. bone, boin, a petition, fr. Icel. b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, AS. b, and perh. to E. ban; but influenced by F. bon good, fr. L. bonus. Ban, Bounty.]
- plasmic a.
- Of, pertaining to, or connected with, plasma; plasmatic.
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- rebel a.
- Pertaining to rebels or rebellion; acting in revolt; rebellious; as, rebel troops. [F. rebelle, fr. L. rebellis. See Rebel, v. t.]
- 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,]
- evolve v. t.
- To unfold or unroll; to open and expand; to disentangle and exhibit clearly and satisfactorily; to develop; to derive; to educe. [L. evolvere, evolutum; e out + volvere to roll. See Voluble.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The God of the Wood 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 God of the Wood, in Later Poems (1921), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #33417, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/carman-later-poems/the-god-of-the-wood.html, id L11052.
Form and metre
The God of the Wood is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 4 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.0 syllables. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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 -A-A wood · convergeA · solitude · mergeA
- 2 ABAB rainA · moonB · plainA · boonB
- 3 A-A- stillA · ease · willA · peace
- 4 ABAB bornA · clayB · forlornA · swayB
- 5 ABAB fineA · fearsB · malignA · tearsB
- 6 ABAB evolveA · joysB · resolveA · poiseB
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Here all the forces of the wood | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As one converge, | 4 | ··˘/ |
| To make the soul of solitude | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Where all things merge. | 4 | ···· |
| The sun, the rain-wind, and the rain, | 8 | ········ |
| The visiting moon, | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| The hurrying cloud by peak and plain, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Each with its boon. | 4 | ···· |
| Here power attains perfection still | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| In mighty ease, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| That the great earth may have her will | 8 | ········ |
| Of joy and peace. | 4 | ···· |
| And so through me, the mortal born | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of plasmic clay, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Immortal powers, kind, fierce, forlorn, | 8 | ˘/˘/··˘/ |
| And glad, have sway. | 4 | ···· |
| Eternal passions, ardors fine, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| And monstrous fears, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Rule and rebel, serene, malign, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘/ |
| Or loosed in tears; | 4 | ···· |
| Until at last they shall evolve | 8 | ······˘/ |
| From griefs and joys | 4 | ···· |
| Some steady light, some firm resolve, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Some Godlike poise. | 4 | ·/˘· |
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.