Preludes II
A thought to lift me up to thoseSweet wildflowers of the pensive woods;The lofty, lowly attitudesOf bluet and of bramble-rose:To lift me where my mind may reachThe lessons which their beauties teach.
A dream, to lead my spirit onWith sounds of faery shawms and flutes,And all mysterious attributesOf skies of dusk and skies of dawn:To lead me, like the wandering brooks,Past all the knowledge of the books.
A song, to make my heart a guestOf happiness whose soul is love;One with the life that knoweth ofBut song that turneth toil to rest:To make me cousin to the birds,Whose music needs not wisdom's words.
Words in this poem
- bramble n.
- Any plant of the genus Rubus, including the raspberry and blackberry. Hence: Any rough, prickly shrub. [OE. brembil, AS.brbramal), fr. the same root as E. broom, As. br. See Broom.]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Preludes II 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, Preludes II, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/preludes-ii.html, id L10858.
Form and metre
Preludes II is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABBACC, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. 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 7.9 syllables. 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 A--ABB thoseA · woods · attitudes · roseA · reachB · teachB
- 2 ABBACC onA · flutesB · attributesB · dawnA · brooksC · booksC
- 3 ABBACC guestA · loveB · ofB · restA · birdsC · wordsC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A thought to lift me up to those | 8 | ········ |
| Sweet wildflowers of the pensive woods; | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| The lofty, lowly attitudes | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Of bluet and of bramble-rose: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| To lift me where my mind may reach | 8 | ········ |
| The lessons which their beauties teach. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A dream, to lead my spirit on | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With sounds of faery shawms and flutes, | 8 | ········ |
| And all mysterious attributes | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Of skies of dusk and skies of dawn: | 8 | ········ |
| To lead me, like the wandering brooks, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Past all the knowledge of the books. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A song, to make my heart a guest | 8 | ········ |
| Of happiness whose soul is love; | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| One with the life that knoweth of | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But song that turneth toil to rest: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To make me cousin to the birds, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Whose music needs not wisdom's words. | 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.