Penetralia
I am a part of all you seeIn Nature; part of all you feel:I am the impact of the beeUpon the blossom; in the treeI am the sap,--that shall revealThe leaf, the bloom,--that flows and flutesUp from the darkness through its roots.
I am the vermeil of the rose,The perfume breathing in its veins;The gold within the mist that glowsAlong the west and overflowsWith light the heaven; the dew that rainsIts freshness down and strings with spheresOf wet the webs and oaten ears.
I am the egg that folds the bird;The song that beaks and breaks its shell;The laughter and the wandering wordThe water says; and, dimly heard,The music of the blossom's bellWhen soft winds swing it; and the soundOf grass slow-creeping o'er the ground.
I am the warmth, the honey-scentThat throats with spice each lily-budThat opens, white with wonderment,Beneath the moon; or, downward bent,Sleeps with a moth beneath its hood:I am the dream that haunts it too,That crystallizes into dew.
I am the seed within the pod;The worm within its closed cocoon:The wings within the circling clod,The germ, that gropes through soil and sodTo beauty, radiant in the noon:I am all these, behold! and more--I am the love at the world-heart's core.
Words in this poem
- impact v. t.
- To drive close; to press firmly together: to wedge into a place. Woodward. [L. impactus, p. p. of impingere to push, strike against. See Impinge.]
- 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,]
- vermeil n.
- Vermilion; also, the color of vermilion, a bright, beautiful red. [F., vermilion, fr. LL. vermiculus, fr. L. vermiculus a little worm, the coccus Indicus, from vermis a worm. See Worm, and cf. Vermicule.]
- oaten a.
- Consisting of an oat straw or stem; as, an oaten pipe.
- dimly adv.
- In a dim or obscure manner; not brightly or clearly; with imperfect sight.
- wonderment n.
- Surprise; astonishment; a wonderful appearance; a wonder.
- clod n.
- A lump or mass, especially of earth, turf, or clay. [OE. clodde, latter form of clot. See Clot.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Penetralia 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, Penetralia, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/penetralia.html, id L10846.
Form and metre
Penetralia is 35 lines in 5 stanzas of 7 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAABCC. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 98% 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. 43% 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 ABAABCC seeA · feelB · beeA · treeA · revealB · flutesC · rootsC
- 2 ABAABCC roseA · veinsB · glowsA · overflowsA · rainsB · spheresC · earsC
- 3 ABAABCC birdA · shellB · wordA · heardA · bellB · soundC · groundC
- 4 ABAABCC scentA · budB · wondermentA · bentA · hoodB · tooC · dewC
- 5 ABAABCC podA · cocoonB · clodA · sodA · noonB · moreC · coreC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I am a part of all you see | 8 | ········ |
| In Nature; part of all you feel: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I am the impact of the bee | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| Upon the blossom; in the tree | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I am the sap,--that shall reveal | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The leaf, the bloom,--that flows and flutes | 8 | ········ |
| Up from the darkness through its roots. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I am the vermeil of the rose, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The perfume breathing in its veins; | 8 | ·˘//˘··· |
| The gold within the mist that glows | 8 | ········ |
| Along the west and overflows | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| With light the heaven; the dew that rains | 8 | ···/···· |
| Its freshness down and strings with spheres | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of wet the webs and oaten ears. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I am the egg that folds the bird; | 8 | ········ |
| The song that beaks and breaks its shell; | 8 | ········ |
| The laughter and the wandering word | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The water says; and, dimly heard, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The music of the blossom's bell | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| When soft winds swing it; and the sound | 8 | ········ |
| Of grass slow-creeping o'er the ground. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I am the warmth, the honey-scent | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That throats with spice each lily-bud | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That opens, white with wonderment, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Beneath the moon; or, downward bent, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Sleeps with a moth beneath its hood: | 8 | ········ |
| I am the dream that haunts it too, | 8 | ········ |
| That crystallizes into dew. | 8 | ·/˘·˘··· |
| I am the seed within the pod; | 8 | ········ |
| The worm within its closed cocoon: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The wings within the circling clod, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The germ, that gropes through soil and sod | 8 | ········ |
| To beauty, radiant in the noon: | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| I am all these, behold! and more-- | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| I am the love at the world-heart's core. | 9 | ········· |
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.