The Forest Way
I climbed a forest path and foundA dim cave in the dripping ground,Where dwelt the spirit of cool sound,Who wrought with crystal triangles,And hollowed foam of rippled bells,A music of mysterious spells.
Where Sleep her bubble-jewels spilledOf dreams; and Silence twilight-filledHer emerald buckets, star-instilled,With liquid whispers of lost springs,And mossy tread of woodland things,And drip of dew that greenly clings.
Here by those servitors of Sound,Warders of that enchanted ground,My soul and sense were seized and bound,And, in a dungeon deep of treesEntranced, were laid at lazy ease,The charge of woodland mysteries.
The minions of Prince Drowsihead,The wood-perfumes, with sleepy tread,Tiptoed around my ferny bed:And far away I heard reportOf one who dimly rode to Court,The Faery Princess, Eve-Amort.
Her herald winds sang as they passed;And there her beauty stood at last,With wild gold locks, a band held fast,Above blue eyes, as clear as spar;While from a curved and azure jarShe poured the white moon and a star.
Words in this poem
- dripping n.
- A falling in drops, or the sound so made.
- drip v. i.
- To fall in drops; as, water drips from the eaves. [Akin to LG. drippen, Dan. dryppe, from a noun. See Drop.]
- greenly adv.
- With a green color; newly; freshly, immaturely.
- enchanted a.
- Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
- dungeon n.
- A close, dark prison, commondonjon or keep of a castle, these being used as prisons. [OE. donjoun highest tower of a castle, tower, prison, F. donjon tower or platform in the midst of a castle, turret, or closet on the top of a house, a keep of a]
- drowsihead n.
- Drowsiness. Thomson.
- ferny a.
- Abounding in ferns.
- dimly adv.
- In a dim or obscure manner; not brightly or clearly; with imperfect sight.
- rode n.
- Redness; complexion. [See Rud.]
- princess n.
- A female prince; a woman having sovereign power, or the rank of a prince. [F. princesse. See Prince, and cf. Princesse.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Forest Way 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, The Forest Way, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/the-forest-way.html, id L10881.
Form and metre
The Forest Way is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AAABBB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% 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 AAABBB foundA · groundA · soundA · trianglesB · bellsB · spellsB
- 2 AAABBB spilledA · filledA · instilledA · springsB · thingsB · clingsB
- 3 AAABBB soundA · groundA · boundA · treesB · easeB · mysteriesB
- 4 AAABBB drowsiheadA · treadA · bedA · reportB · courtB · amortB
- 5 AAABBB passedA · lastA · fastA · sparB · jarB · starB
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 climbed a forest path and found | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A dim cave in the dripping ground, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Where dwelt the spirit of cool sound, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Who wrought with crystal triangles, | 8 | ···/˘/·˘ |
| And hollowed foam of rippled bells, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A music of mysterious spells. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Where Sleep her bubble-jewels spilled | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Of dreams; and Silence twilight-filled | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| Her emerald buckets, star-instilled, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| With liquid whispers of lost springs, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And mossy tread of woodland things, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| And drip of dew that greenly clings. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Here by those servitors of Sound, | 8 | ········ |
| Warders of that enchanted ground, | 8 | /˘··˘/˘· |
| My soul and sense were seized and bound, | 8 | ········ |
| And, in a dungeon deep of trees | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Entranced, were laid at lazy ease, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| The charge of woodland mysteries. | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| The minions of Prince Drowsihead, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| The wood-perfumes, with sleepy tread, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Tiptoed around my ferny bed: | 8 | /····/˘· |
| And far away I heard report | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Of one who dimly rode to Court, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The Faery Princess, Eve-Amort. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Her herald winds sang as they passed; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And there her beauty stood at last, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With wild gold locks, a band held fast, | 8 | ········ |
| Above blue eyes, as clear as spar; | 8 | ········ |
| While from a curved and azure jar | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| She poured the white moon and a star. | 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.