Abandoned
The hornets build in plaster-dropping rooms,And on its mossy porch the lizard lies;Around its chimneys slow the swallow flies,And on its roof the locusts snow their blooms.Like some sad thought that broods here, old perfumesHaunt its dim stairs; the cautious zephyr triesEach gusty door, like some dead hand, then sighsWith ghostly lips among the attic glooms.And now a heron, now a kingfisher,Flits in the willows where the riffle seemsAt each faint fall to hesitate to leap,Fluttering the silence with a little stir.Here Summer seems a placid face asleep,And the near world a figment of her dreams.
Words in this poem
- zephyr n.
- The west wind; poetically, any soft, gentle breeze. [L. zephyrus, Gr. zéphyr.]
- gusty a.
- Subject to, or characterized by, gusts or squalls; windy; stormy; tempestuous.
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
- placid a.
- Pleased; contented; unruffied; undisturbed; serene; peaceful; tranquil; quiet; gentle. [L. placidus, originally, pleasing, mild, from placere to please: cf. F. placide. See Please.]
- figment n.
- An invention; a fiction; something feigned or imagined. [L. figmentum, fr. fingere to form, shape, invent, feign. See Feign.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Abandoned is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #7796; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Madison Julius Cawein, Abandoned, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/abandoned.html, id L10968.
Form and metre
Abandoned is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBAABBA-CD-DC roomsA · liesB · fliesB · bloomsA · perfumesA · triesB · sighsB · gloomsA · kingfisher · seemsC · leapD · stir · asleepD · dreamsC
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The hornets build in plaster-dropping rooms, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| And on its mossy porch the lizard lies; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Around its chimneys slow the swallow flies, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And on its roof the locusts snow their blooms. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Like some sad thought that broods here, old perfumes | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Haunt its dim stairs; the cautious zephyr tries | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Each gusty door, like some dead hand, then sighs | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| With ghostly lips among the attic glooms. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And now a heron, now a kingfisher, | 10 | ···/˘··/·˘ |
| Flits in the willows where the riffle seems | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| At each faint fall to hesitate to leap, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Fluttering the silence with a little stir. | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Here Summer seems a placid face asleep, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| And the near world a figment of her dreams. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
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.