Moly
When by the wall the tiger-flower swingsA head of sultry slumber and aroma;And by the path, whereon the blown rose flingsIts obsolete beauty, the long lilies foam aWhite place of perfume, like a beautiful breast--Between the pansy fire of the west,And poppy mist of moonrise in the east,This heartache will have ceased.
The witchcraft of soft music and sweet sleep--Let it beguile the burthen from my spirit,And white dreams reap me as strong reapers reapThe ripened grain and full blown blossom near it;Let me behold how gladness gives the wholeThe transformed countenance of my own soul--Between the sunset and the risen moonLet sorrow vanish soon.
And these things then shall keep me company:The elfins of the dew; the spirit of laughterWho haunts the wind; the god of melodyWho sings within the stream, that reaches after
The flow'rs that rock themselves to his caress:These of themselves shall shape my happiness,Whose visible presence I shall lean upon,Feeling that care is gone.
Forgetting how the cankered flower must die;The worm-pierced fruit fall, sicklied to its syrup;How joy, begotten 'twixt a sigh and sigh,Waits with one foot forever in the stirrup,--Remembering how within the hollow luteSoft music sleeps when music's voice is mute;And in the heart, when all seems black despair,Hope sits, awaiting there.
Words in this poem
- whereon adv.
- On which; -- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
- moonrise n.
- The rising of the moon above the horizon; also, the time of its rising.
- heartache n.
- Sorrow; anguish of mind; mental pang. [Cf. AS. heortece.]
- reap n.
- A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. Wright. [Cf. AS. rip harvest. See Reap, v.]
- 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,]
- 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.]
- cankered a.
- Affected with canker; as, a cankered mouth.
- sicklied a.
- Made sickly. See Sickly, v.
- syrup n.
- A thick and viscid liquid made from the juice of fruits, herbs, etc., boiled with sugar. [F. sirop (cf. It. siroppo, Sp. jarabe, jarope, LL. siruppus, syrupus), fr. Ar. sharab a drink, wine, coffee, sirup. Cf. Sherbet.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Moly 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, Moly, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/moly.html, id L10907.
Form and metre
Moly is 32 lines in 5 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABCCDD, in 2 of the 5 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.6 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 31% 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 A-A-BBCC swingsA · aroma · flingsA · a · breastB · westB · eastC · ceasedC
- 2 ABABCCDD sleepA · spiritB · reapA · itB · wholeC · soulC · moonD · soonD
- 3 -A-A company · laughterA · melody · afterA
- 4 AA-- caressA · happinessA · upon · gone
- 5 ABABCCDD dieA · syrupB · sighA · stirrupB · luteC · muteC · despairD · thereD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When by the wall the tiger-flower swings | 8 | ·····//· |
| A head of sultry slumber and aroma; | 11 | ···/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| And by the path, whereon the blown rose flings | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Its obsolete beauty, the long lilies foam a | 12 | ·/˘·/˘··/˘·· |
| White place of perfume, like a beautiful breast-- | 10 | ···˘/··/˘· |
| Between the pansy fire of the west, | 9 | ···/˘/··· |
| And poppy mist of moonrise in the east, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| This heartache will have ceased. | 7 | ·/····˘ |
| The witchcraft of soft music and sweet sleep-- | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| Let it beguile the burthen from my spirit, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··/ |
| And white dreams reap me as strong reapers reap | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The ripened grain and full blown blossom near it; | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| Let me behold how gladness gives the whole | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| The transformed countenance of my own soul-- | 9 | ·˘//˘···· |
| Between the sunset and the risen moon | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Let sorrow vanish soon. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And these things then shall keep me company: | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| The elfins of the dew; the spirit of laughter | 11 | ·/˘····/·/˘ |
| Who haunts the wind; the god of melody | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Who sings within the stream, that reaches after | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| The flow'rs that rock themselves to his caress: | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| These of themselves shall shape my happiness, | 9 | ··˘/···/˘ |
| Whose visible presence I shall lean upon, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Feeling that care is gone. | 6 | /˘···· |
| Forgetting how the cankered flower must die; | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘/·· |
| The worm-pierced fruit fall, sicklied to its syrup; | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| How joy, begotten 'twixt a sigh and sigh, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Waits with one foot forever in the stirrup,-- | 11 | ····˘/˘··/˘ |
| Remembering how within the hollow lute | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| Soft music sleeps when music's voice is mute; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And in the heart, when all seems black despair, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Hope sits, awaiting there. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
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.