Eidolons
The white moth-mullein brushed its slimCool, faery flowers against his knee;In places where the way lay dimThe branches, arching suddenly,Made tomblike mystery for him.
The wild-rose and the elder, drenchedWith rain, made pale a misty place,--From which, as from a ghost, he blenched;He walking with averted face,And lips in desolation clenched.
For far within the forest,--whereWeird shadows stood like phantom men,And where the ground-hog dug its lair,The she-fox whelped and had her den,--The thing kept calling, buried there.
One dead trunk, like a ruined tower,Dark-green with toppling trailers, shovedIts wild wreck o'er the bush; one bowerLooked like a dead man, capped and gloved,The one who haunted him each hour.
Now at his side he heard it: thinAs echoes of a thought that speaksTo conscience. Listening with his chinUpon his palm, against his cheeksHe felt the moon's white finger win.
And now the voice was still: and lo,With eyes that stared on naught but night,He saw?--what none on earth shall know!--Was it the face that far from sightHad lain here, buried long ago?
But men who found him,--thither ledBy the wild fox,--within that placeRead in his stony eyes, 'tis said,The thing he saw there, face to face,The thing that left him staring dead.
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.]
- averted a.
- Turned away, esp. as an expression of feeling; also, offended; unpropitious.
- desolation n.
- The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation. [F. désolation, L. desolatio.]
- lair n.
- A place in which to lie or rest; especially, the bed or couch of a wild beast. [OE. leir, AS. leger; akin to D. leger, G. lager couch, lair, OHG. laga, Goth. ligrs, and to E. lie. See Lie to be prostrate, and cf. Layer, Leaguer.]
- haunted a.
- Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
- conscience n.
- Knowledge of one's own thoughts or actions; consciousness. [F. conscience, fr. L. conscientia, fr. consciens, p.pr. of conscire to know, to be conscious; con- + scire to know. See Science.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Eidolons 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, Eidolons, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/eidolons.html, id L10941.
Form and metre
Eidolons is 35 lines in 7 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABA, complete in 6 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, 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 8.1 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 37% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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-A slimA · knee · dimA · suddenly · himA
- 2 ABABA drenchedA · placeB · blenchedA · faceB · clenchedA
- 3 ABABA whereA · menB · lairA · denB · thereA
- 4 ABABA towerA · shovedB · bowerA · glovedB · hourA
- 5 ABABA thinA · speaksB · chinA · cheeksB · winA
- 6 ABABA loA · nightB · knowA · sightB · agoA
- 7 ABABA ledA · placeB · saidA · faceB · deadA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The white moth-mullein brushed its slim | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Cool, faery flowers against his knee; | 8 | ···/···· |
| In places where the way lay dim | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The branches, arching suddenly, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Made tomblike mystery for him. | 8 | ·/·/˘˘·· |
| The wild-rose and the elder, drenched | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With rain, made pale a misty place,-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| From which, as from a ghost, he blenched; | 8 | ········ |
| He walking with averted face, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| And lips in desolation clenched. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| For far within the forest,--where | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Weird shadows stood like phantom men, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| And where the ground-hog dug its lair, | 8 | ········ |
| The she-fox whelped and had her den,-- | 8 | ········ |
| The thing kept calling, buried there. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| One dead trunk, like a ruined tower, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Dark-green with toppling trailers, shoved | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Its wild wreck o'er the bush; one bower | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Looked like a dead man, capped and gloved, | 8 | ········ |
| The one who haunted him each hour. | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Now at his side he heard it: thin | 8 | ········ |
| As echoes of a thought that speaks | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To conscience. Listening with his chin | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Upon his palm, against his cheeks | 8 | ········ |
| He felt the moon's white finger win. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And now the voice was still: and lo, | 8 | ········ |
| With eyes that stared on naught but night, | 8 | ········ |
| He saw?--what none on earth shall know!-- | 8 | ········ |
| Was it the face that far from sight | 8 | ········ |
| Had lain here, buried long ago? | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| But men who found him,--thither led | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| By the wild fox,--within that place | 8 | ········ |
| Read in his stony eyes, 'tis said, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The thing he saw there, face to face, | 8 | ········ |
| The thing that left him staring dead. | 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.