The Leaf-Cricket
Small twilight singerOf dew and mist: thou ghost-gray, gossamer wingerOf dusk's dim glimmer,How chill thy note sounds; how thy wings of shimmerVibrate, soft-sighing,Meseems, for Summer that is dead or dying.I stand and listen,And at thy song the garden-beds, that glistenWith rose and lily,Seem touched with sadness; and the tuberose chilly,Breathing around its cold and colorless breath,Fills the pale evening with wan hints of death.
I see thee quaintlyBeneath the leaf; thy shell-shaped winglets faintly--(As thin as spangleOf cobwebbed rain)--held up at airy angle;I hear thy tinkleWith faery notes the silvery stillness sprinkle;
Investing whollyThe moonlight with divinest melancholy:Until, in seeming,I see the Spirit of Summer sadly dreamingAmid her ripened orchards, russet-strewn,Her great, grave eyes fixed on the harvest-moon.
As dewdrops beady;As mist minute, thy notes ring low and reedy:The vaguest vaporOf melody, now near; now, like some taperOf sound, far-fading--Thou will-o'-wisp of music aye evading.Among the bowers,The fog-washed stalks of Autumn's weeds and flowers,By hill and hollow,I hear thy murmur and in vain I follow--Thou jack-o'-lantern voice, thou pixy cry,Thou dirge, that tellest Beauty she must die.
And when the franticWild winds of Autumn with the dead leaves antic;And walnuts scatterThe mire of lanes; and dropping acorns patterIn grove and forest,Like some frail grief with the rude blast thou warrest,Sending thy slenderFar cry against the gale, that, rough, untender,Untouched of sorrow,Sweeps thee aside, where, haply, I to-morrowShall find thee lying--tiny, cold and crushed,Thy weak wings folded and thy music hushed.
Words in this poem 21
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- gossamer n.
- A fine, filmy substance, like cobwebs, floating in the air, in calm, clear weather, especially in autumn. It is seen in stubble fields and on furze or low bushes, and is formed by small spiders. [OE. gossomer, gossummer, gosesomer, perh. for goose summer, from its downy appearance, or perh. for God's summer, cf. G. mariengarr gossamer, properly Mary's ya]
- winger n.
- One of the casks stowed in the wings of a vessel's hold, being smaller than such as are stowed more amidships. Totten.
- shimmer v. i.
- To shine with a tremulous or intermittent light; to shine faintly; to gleam; to glisten; to glimmer. [OE. schimeren, AS. scimerian; akin to scimian, sciman, to glitter, D. schemeren, G. schimmern, Dan. skimre, Sw. skimra, AS. scima a light, brightness, Icel. ski]
- meseems v.
- It seems to me.
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
- tuberose n.
- A plant (Polianthes tuberosa) with a tuberous root and a liliaceous flower. It is much cultivated for its beautiful and fragrant white blossoms. [Cf. G. tuberose, F. tubéreuse, NL. Polianthes tuberosa. See Tuberous.]
- quaintly adv.
- In a quaint manner.
- spangle n.
- A small plate or boss of shining metal; something brilliant used as an ornament, especially when stitched on the dress. [OE. spangel, dim. of AS. spange. See Spang a spangle.]
- cobwebbed a.
- Abounding in cobwebs.
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- beady a.
- Resembling beads; small, round, and glistening.
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- pixy n.
- An old English name for a fairy; an elf. [For Pucksy, from Puck.]
- dirge n.
- A piece of music of a mournful character, to accompany funeral rites; a funeral hymn. [Contraction of Lat. dirige, direct thou (imperative of dirigere), the first word of a funeral hymn (Lat. transl. of Psalm v. 8) beginning, "Dirige, Domine, in c]
- antic v. t.
- To make appear like a buffoon.
- patter v. i.
- To strike with a quick succession of slight, sharp sounds; as, pattering rain or hail; pattering feet. [Freq. of pat to strike gently.]
- haply adv.
- By hap, chance, luck, or accident; perhaps; it may be.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Leaf-Cricket 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 Leaf-Cricket, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/the-leaf-cricket.html, id L10924.
Form and metre
The Leaf-Cricket is 48 lines in 5 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABBCCDDEEFF, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.3 syllables. 38 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% 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 AABBCCDDEEFF singerA · wingerA · glimmerB · shimmerB · sighingC · dyingC · listenD · glistenD · lilyE · chillyE · breathF · deathF
- 2 AABBCC quaintlyA · faintlyA · spangleB · angleB · tinkleC · sprinkleC
- 3 --AABB wholly · melancholy · seemingA · dreamingA · strewnB · moonB
- 4 AABBCCDDEEFF beadyA · reedyA · vaporB · taperB · fadingC · evadingC · bowersD · flowersD · hollowE · followE · cryF · dieF
- 5 AABBCCDDEEFF franticA · anticA · scatterB · patterB · forestC · warrestC · slenderD · untenderD · sorrowE · morrowE · crushedF · hushedF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Small twilight singer | 5 | ·/·/˘ |
| Of dew and mist: thou ghost-gray, gossamer winger | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Of dusk's dim glimmer, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| How chill thy note sounds; how thy wings of shimmer | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Vibrate, soft-sighing, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Meseems, for Summer that is dead or dying. | 11 | ˘/·/˘····/˘ |
| I stand and listen, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| And at thy song the garden-beds, that glisten | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| With rose and lily, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Seem touched with sadness; and the tuberose chilly, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Breathing around its cold and colorless breath, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Fills the pale evening with wan hints of death. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I see thee quaintly | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Beneath the leaf; thy shell-shaped winglets faintly-- | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| (As thin as spangle | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Of cobwebbed rain)--held up at airy angle; | 11 | ·/·····/˘/˘ |
| I hear thy tinkle | 5 | ···/˘ |
| With faery notes the silvery stillness sprinkle; | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| Investing wholly | 5 | ˘/˘/˘ |
| The moonlight with divinest melancholy: | 11 | ·/··˘/˘/˘·˘ |
| Until, in seeming, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| I see the Spirit of Summer sadly dreaming | 11 | ···/·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Amid her ripened orchards, russet-strewn, | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Her great, grave eyes fixed on the harvest-moon. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| As dewdrops beady; | 5 | ···/˘ |
| As mist minute, thy notes ring low and reedy: | 11 | ··˘/·····/˘ |
| The vaguest vapor | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Of melody, now near; now, like some taper | 10 | ·/˘·····/˘ |
| Of sound, far-fading-- | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Thou will-o'-wisp of music aye evading. | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| Among the bowers, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The fog-washed stalks of Autumn's weeds and flowers, | 10 | ·····/˘··/ |
| By hill and hollow, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| I hear thy murmur and in vain I follow-- | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Thou jack-o'-lantern voice, thou pixy cry, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thou dirge, that tellest Beauty she must die. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And when the frantic | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Wild winds of Autumn with the dead leaves antic; | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| And walnuts scatter | 5 | ·/·/˘ |
| The mire of lanes; and dropping acorns patter | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| In grove and forest, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Like some frail grief with the rude blast thou warrest, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Sending thy slender | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Far cry against the gale, that, rough, untender, | 11 | ··········· |
| Untouched of sorrow, | 5 | ˘/·/˘ |
| Sweeps thee aside, where, haply, I to-morrow | 11 | ··˘/·/˘··/˘ |
| Shall find thee lying--tiny, cold and crushed, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Thy weak wings folded and thy music hushed. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
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.