In the Wood
The waterfall, deep in the wood,Talked drowsily with solitude,A soft, insistent sound of foam,That filled with sleep the forest's dome,Where, like some dream of dusk, she stoodAccentuating solitude.
The crickets' tinkling chips of soundStrewed dim the twilight-twinkling ground;A whippoorwill began to cry,And glimmering through the sober skyA bat went on its drunken round,Its shadow following on the ground.
Then from a bush, an elder-copse,That spiced the dark with musky tops,What seemed, at first, a shadow cameAnd took her hand and spoke her name,And kissed her where, in starry drops,The dew orbed on the elder-tops.
The glaucous glow of firefliesFlickered the dusk; and foxlike eyesPeered from the shadows; and the hushMurmured a word of wind and rushOf fluttering waters, fragrant sighs,And dreams unseen of mortal eyes.
The beetle flung its burr of soundAgainst the hush and clung there, woundIn night's deep mane: then, in a tree,A grig began deliberatelyTo file the stillness: all aroundA wire of shrillness seemed unwound.
I looked for those two lovers there;His ardent eyes, her passionate hair.The moon looked down, slow-climbing wanHeaven's slope of azure: they were gone:But where they'd passed I heard the airSigh, faint with sweetness of her hair.
Words in this poem
- drowsily adv.
- In a drowsy manner.
- insistent a.
- Standing or resting on something; as, an insistent wall. Sir H. [L. insistens, -entis, p. pr. of insistere.]
- twinkling n.
- The act of one who, or of that which, twinkles; a quick movement of the eye; a wink; a twinkle. Holland.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- copse n.
- A wood of small growth; a thicket of brushwood. See Coppice. [Contr. from coppice.]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- orbed a.
- Having the form of an orb; round.
- glaucous a.
- Of a sea-green color; of a dull green passing into grayish blue.
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- clung a.
- Wasted away; shrunken. [Prop. p. p. fr. OE. clingen to wither. See Cling, v. i.]
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- shrillness n.
- The quality or state of being shrill.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In the Wood 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 the Wood, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/in-the-wood.html, id L10894.
Form and metre
In the Wood is 36 lines in 6 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABBAA, complete in 3 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 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 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 ABCCAB woodA · solitudeB · foamC · domeC · stoodA · solitudeB
- 2 AABBAA soundA · groundA · cryB · skyB · roundA · groundA
- 3 AABBAA copseA · topsA · cameB · nameB · dropsA · topsA
- 4 AABBAA firefliesA · eyesA · hushB · rushB · sighsA · eyesA
- 5 AA--AA soundA · woundA · tree · deliberately · aroundA · unwoundA
- 6 AA--AA thereA · hairA · wan · gone · airA · hairA
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 waterfall, deep in the wood, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Talked drowsily with solitude, | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| A soft, insistent sound of foam, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| That filled with sleep the forest's dome, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Where, like some dream of dusk, she stood | 8 | ········ |
| Accentuating solitude. | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| The crickets' tinkling chips of sound | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Strewed dim the twilight-twinkling ground; | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| A whippoorwill began to cry, | 7 | ·/˘˘/·· |
| And glimmering through the sober sky | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A bat went on its drunken round, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Its shadow following on the ground. | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| Then from a bush, an elder-copse, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That spiced the dark with musky tops, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| What seemed, at first, a shadow came | 8 | ·····/·· |
| And took her hand and spoke her name, | 8 | ········ |
| And kissed her where, in starry drops, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The dew orbed on the elder-tops. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The glaucous glow of fireflies | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Flickered the dusk; and foxlike eyes | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Peered from the shadows; and the hush | 8 | ···/···· |
| Murmured a word of wind and rush | 8 | /˘······ |
| Of fluttering waters, fragrant sighs, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And dreams unseen of mortal eyes. | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| The beetle flung its burr of sound | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Against the hush and clung there, wound | 8 | ········ |
| In night's deep mane: then, in a tree, | 8 | ········ |
| A grig began deliberately | 9 | ··˘/˘/˘˘˘ |
| To file the stillness: all around | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A wire of shrillness seemed unwound. | 8 | ·/·/˘·˘/ |
| I looked for those two lovers there; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| His ardent eyes, her passionate hair. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The moon looked down, slow-climbing wan | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Heaven's slope of azure: they were gone: | 9 | /˘··/˘··· |
| But where they'd passed I heard the air | 8 | ········ |
| Sigh, faint with sweetness of her hair. | 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.