At the Road-House: In Memory of Robert Louis Stevenson
You hearken, fellows? Turned asideInto the road-house of the past!The prince of vagabonds is goneTo house among his peers at last.
The stainless gallant gentleman,So glad of life, he gave no trace,No hint he even once beheldThe spectre peering in his face;
But gay and modest held the road,Nor feared the Shadow of the Dust;And saw the whole world rich with joy,As every valiant farer must.
I think that old and vasty innWill have a welcome guest to-night,When Chaucer, breaking off some taleThat fills his hearers with delight,
Shall lift up his demure brown eyesTo bid the stranger in; and allWill turn to greet the one on whomThe crystal lot was last to fall.
Keats of the more than mortal tongueWill take grave Milton by the sleeveTo meet their kin, whose woven wordsHad elvish music in the weave.
Dear Lamb and excellent Montaigne,Sterne and the credible Defoe,Borrow, DeQuincey, the great Dean,The sturdy leisurist Thoreau;
The furtive soul whose dark romance,By ghostly door and haunted stair,Explored the dusty human heartAnd the forgotten garrets there;
The moralist it could not spoil,To hold an empire in his hands;Sir Walter, and the brood who sprangFrom Homer through a hundred lands,
Singers of songs on all men's lips,Tellers of tales in all men's ears,Movers of hearts that still must beatTo sorrows feigned and fabled tears;
Horace and Omar, doubting stillWhat mystery lurks beyond the seen,Yet blithe and reassured beforeThat fine unvexed Virgilian mien;
These will companion him to-night,Beyond this iron wintry gloom,When Shakespeare and Cervantes bidThe great joy-masters give him room.
No alien there in speech or mood,He will pass in, one traveller more;And portly Ben will smile to seeThe velvet jacket at the door.
Words in this poem 16
- stainless a.
- Free from stain; immaculate.
- spectre n.
- Something preternaturally visible; an apparition; a ghost; a phantom. [F. spectre, fr. L. spectrum an appearance, image, specter, fr. specere to look. See Spy, and cf. Spectrum.]
- valiant a.
- Vigorous in body; strong; powerful; as, a valiant fencer. [OE. valiant, F. vaillant, OF. vaillant, valant, originally p. pr. of OF. & F. valoir to be worth, L. valere to be strong. See Wield, and cf. Avail, Convalesce, ]
- 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,]
- demure v. i.
- To look demurely.
- elvish a.
- Pertaining to elves; implike; mischievous; weird; also, vacant; absent in demeanor. See Elfish.
- borrow v. t.
- To receive from another as a loan, with the implied or expressed intention of returning the identical article or its equivalent in kind; -- the opposite of lend. [OE. borwen, AS. borgian, fr. borg, borh, pledge; akin to D. borg, G. borg; prob. fr. root of AS. beorgan to protect. Borough.]
- furtive a.
- Stolen; obtained or characterized by stealth; sly; secret; stealthy; as, a furtive look. Prior. [L. furtivus, fr. furtum theft, fr. fur thief, akin to ferre to bear: cf. F. furtif. See Fertile.]
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
- haunted a.
- Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
- moralist n.
- One who moralizes; one who teaches or animadverts upon the duties of life; a writer of essays intended to correct vice and inculcate moral duties. [Cf. F. moraliste.]
- walter v. i.
- To roll or wallow; to welter. [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.] [See Welter.]
- blithe a.
- Gay; merry; sprightly; joyous; glad; cheerful; as, a blithe spirit. [AS. bli blithe, kind; akin to Goth. blei kind, Icel. bli mild, gentle, Dan. & Sw. blid gentle, D. blijd blithe, OHG. blidi kind, blithe.]
- virgilian a.
- Of or pertaining to Virgil, the Roman poet; resembling the style of Virgil. [Spelt also Vergilian.] [L. Virgilianus, better Vergilianus.]
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
- portly a.
- Having a dignified port or mien; of a noble appearance; imposing. [From Port demeanor.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
At the Road-House: In Memory of Robert Louis Stevenson is in the public domain. This text is taken from More Songs From Vagabondia, Project Gutenberg ebook #18007; 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, At the Road-House: In Memory of Robert Louis Stevenson, in More Songs from Vagabondia (1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18007, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/carman-vagabondia/at-the-road-house-in-memory-of-robert-louis-stevenson.html, id L24721.
Form and metre
At the Road-House: In Memory of Robert Louis Stevenson is 52 lines in 13 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 -A-A aside · pastA · gone · lastA
- 2 -A-A gentleman · traceA · beheld · faceA
- 3 -A-A road · dustA · joy · mustA
- 4 -A-A inn · nightA · tale · delightA
- 5 -A-A eyes · allA · whom · fallA
- 6 -A-A tongue · sleeveA · words · weaveA
- 7 -A-A montaigne · defoeA · dean · thoreauA
- 8 -A-A romance · stairA · heart · thereA
- 9 -A-A spoil · handsA · sprang · landsA
- 10 -A-A lips · earsA · beat · tearsA
- 11 -A-A still · seenA · before · mienA
- 12 -A-A night · gloomA · bid · roomA
- 13 -A-A mood · moreA · see · doorA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| You hearken, fellows? Turned aside | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Into the road-house of the past! | 8 | ········ |
| The prince of vagabonds is gone | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| To house among his peers at last. | 8 | ········ |
| The stainless gallant gentleman, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| So glad of life, he gave no trace, | 8 | ········ |
| No hint he even once beheld | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The spectre peering in his face; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| But gay and modest held the road, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Nor feared the Shadow of the Dust; | 8 | ···/···· |
| And saw the whole world rich with joy, | 8 | ········ |
| As every valiant farer must. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| I think that old and vasty inn | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Will have a welcome guest to-night, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When Chaucer, breaking off some tale | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| That fills his hearers with delight, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Shall lift up his demure brown eyes | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| To bid the stranger in; and all | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Will turn to greet the one on whom | 8 | ········ |
| The crystal lot was last to fall. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Keats of the more than mortal tongue | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Will take grave Milton by the sleeve | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To meet their kin, whose woven words | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Had elvish music in the weave. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Dear Lamb and excellent Montaigne, | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| Sterne and the credible Defoe, | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| Borrow, DeQuincey, the great Dean, | 8 | /······· |
| The sturdy leisurist Thoreau; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The furtive soul whose dark romance, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| By ghostly door and haunted stair, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Explored the dusty human heart | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| And the forgotten garrets there; | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| The moralist it could not spoil, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| To hold an empire in his hands; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Sir Walter, and the brood who sprang | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| From Homer through a hundred lands, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Singers of songs on all men's lips, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Tellers of tales in all men's ears, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Movers of hearts that still must beat | 8 | /˘······ |
| To sorrows feigned and fabled tears; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Horace and Omar, doubting still | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| What mystery lurks beyond the seen, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Yet blithe and reassured before | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| That fine unvexed Virgilian mien; | 9 | ····˘/˘˘· |
| These will companion him to-night, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Beyond this iron wintry gloom, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| When Shakespeare and Cervantes bid | 8 | ·/··˘/˘· |
| The great joy-masters give him room. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| No alien there in speech or mood, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| He will pass in, one traveller more; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And portly Ben will smile to see | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The velvet jacket at the door. | 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.