In a Garden
The pink rose drops its petals onThe moonlit lawn, the moonlit lawn;The moon, like some wide rose of white,Drops down the summer night.No rose there isAs sweet as this--Thy mouth, that greets me with a kiss.
The lattice of thy casement twinesWith jasmine vines, with jasmine vines;The stars, like jasmine blossoms, lieAbout the glimmering sky.No jasmine tressCan so caressLike thy white arms' soft loveliness.
About thy door magnolia bloomsMake sweet the glooms, make sweet the glooms;A moon-magnolia is the duskClosed in a dewy husk.However much,No bloom gives suchSoft fragrance as thy bosom's touch.
The flowers blooming now will pass,And strew the grass, and strew the grass;The night, like some frail flower, dawnWill soon make gray and wan.Still, still above,The flower ofTrue love shall live forever, Love.
Words in this poem
- moonlit a.
- Illumined by the moon.
- casement n.
- A window sash opening on hinges affixed to the upright side of the frame into which it is fitted. (Poetically) A window. [Shortened fr. encasement. See Incase 1st Case, and cf. Incasement.]
- tress n.
- A braid, knot, or curl, of hair; a ringlet. [OE. tresse, OF. trece, F. tresse, LL. tricia, fr. Gr. tri`cha threefold, because a tress is usually formed by interlacing three pieces; akin to trei^s three. Se]
- caress n.
- An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness. [F. caresse, It. carezza, LL. caritia dearness, fr. L. carus dear. See Charity.]
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- 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
In a Garden 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, In a Garden, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/in-a-garden.html, id L10903.
Form and metre
In a Garden is 28 lines in 4 stanzas of 7 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 64% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.6 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 39% 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 AABB-CC onA · lawnA · whiteB · nightB · is · thisC · kissC
- 2 --AABBB twines · vines · lieA · skyA · tressB · caressB · lovelinessB
- 3 AABBCCC bloomsA · gloomsA · duskB · huskB · muchC · suchC · touchC
- 4 AA--BBB passA · grassA · dawn · wan · aboveB · ofB · loveB
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 pink rose drops its petals on | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The moonlit lawn, the moonlit lawn; | 8 | ·/···/·· |
| The moon, like some wide rose of white, | 8 | ········ |
| Drops down the summer night. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| No rose there is | 4 | ···· |
| As sweet as this-- | 4 | ···· |
| Thy mouth, that greets me with a kiss. | 8 | ········ |
| The lattice of thy casement twines | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| With jasmine vines, with jasmine vines; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The stars, like jasmine blossoms, lie | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| About the glimmering sky. | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| No jasmine tress | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Can so caress | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Like thy white arms' soft loveliness. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| About thy door magnolia blooms | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Make sweet the glooms, make sweet the glooms; | 8 | ········ |
| A moon-magnolia is the dusk | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Closed in a dewy husk. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| However much, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| No bloom gives such | 4 | ···· |
| Soft fragrance as thy bosom's touch. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The flowers blooming now will pass, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And strew the grass, and strew the grass; | 8 | ········ |
| The night, like some frail flower, dawn | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Will soon make gray and wan. | 6 | ······ |
| Still, still above, | 4 | ···· |
| The flower of | 4 | ·/˘· |
| True love shall live forever, Love. | 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.