The Hamadryad
She stood among the longest fernsThe valley held; and in her handOne blossom, like the light that burnsVermilion o'er a sunset land;And round her hair a twisted bandOf pink-pierced mountain-laurel blooms:And darker than dark pools, that stand
Below the star-communing glooms,Her eyes beneath her hair's perfumes.
I saw the moonbeam sandals onHer flowerlike feet, that seemed too chasteTo tread true gold: and, like the dawnOn splendid peaks that lord a wasteOf solitude lost gods have graced,Her face: she stood there, faultless-hipped,Bound as with cestused silver,--chasedWith acorn-cup and crown, and tippedWith oak leaves,--whence her chiton slipped.
Limbs that the gods call loveliness!--The grace and glory of all GreeceWrought in one marble shape were lessThan her perfection!--'Mid the treesI saw her--and time seemed to ceaseFor me.--And, lo! I lived my oldGreek life again of classic ease,Barbarian as the myths that rolledMe back into the Age of Gold.
Words in this poem
- moonbeam n.
- A ray of light from the moon.
- graced a.
- Endowed with grace; beautiful; full of graces; honorable.
- chiton n.
- An under garment among the ancient Greeks, nearly representing the modern shirt.
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- classic a.
- Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art. [L. classicus relating to the classes of the Roman people, and especially to the frist class; hence, of the first rank, superior, from classis class: cf. F. clas]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Hamadryad 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 Hamadryad, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/the-hamadryad.html, id L10856.
Form and metre
The Hamadryad is 27 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 99% 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. 63% 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 ABABB-B fernsA · handB · burnsA · landB · bandB · blooms · standB
- 2 AA gloomsA · perfumesA
- 3 ABABB-BCC onA · chasteB · dawnA · wasteB · gracedB · hipped · chasedB · tippedC · slippedC
- 4 ABACBDCDD lovelinessA · greeceB · lessA · treesC · ceaseB · oldD · easeC · rolledD · goldD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| She stood among the longest ferns | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The valley held; and in her hand | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| One blossom, like the light that burns | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Vermilion o'er a sunset land; | 8 | ˘/˘··/·· |
| And round her hair a twisted band | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of pink-pierced mountain-laurel blooms: | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And darker than dark pools, that stand | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Below the star-communing glooms, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Her eyes beneath her hair's perfumes. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| I saw the moonbeam sandals on | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| Her flowerlike feet, that seemed too chaste | 9 | ········· |
| To tread true gold: and, like the dawn | 8 | ········ |
| On splendid peaks that lord a waste | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of solitude lost gods have graced, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Her face: she stood there, faultless-hipped, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Bound as with cestused silver,--chased | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With acorn-cup and crown, and tipped | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With oak leaves,--whence her chiton slipped. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Limbs that the gods call loveliness!-- | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| The grace and glory of all Greece | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Wrought in one marble shape were less | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Than her perfection!--'Mid the trees | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| I saw her--and time seemed to cease | 8 | ········ |
| For me.--And, lo! I lived my old | 8 | ········ |
| Greek life again of classic ease, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Barbarian as the myths that rolled | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Me back into the Age of Gold. | 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.