The Locust
Thou pulse of hotness, who, with reedlike breast,Makest meridian music, long and loud,Accentuating summer!--Dost thy bestTo make the sunbeams fiercer, and to crowdWith lonesomeness the long, close afternoon--When Labor leans, swart-faced and beady-browed,Upon his sultry scythe--thou tangible tuneOf heat, whose waves incessantly ariseQuivering and clear beneath the cloudless skies.
Thou singest, and upon his haggard hillsDrouth yawns and rubs his heavy eyes and wakes;Brushes the hot hair from his face; and fillsThe land with death as sullenly he takesDownward his dusty way. 'Midst woods and fieldsAt every pool his burning thirst he slakes:No grove so deep, no bank so high it shieldsA spring from him; no creek evades his eye:He needs but look and they are withered dry.
Thou singest, and thy song is as a spellOf somnolence to charm the land with sleep;A thorn of sound that pierces dale and dell,Diffusing slumber over vale and steep.Sleepy the forest, nodding sleepy boughs;Sleepy the pastures with their sleepy sheep:Sleepy the creek where sleepily the cowsStand knee-deep; and the very heaven seemsSleepy and lost in undetermined dreams.
Art thou a rattle that Monotony,Summer's dull nurse, old sister of slow Time,Shakes for Day's peevish pleasure, who in gleeTakes its discordant music for sweet rhyme?Or oboe that the Summer Noontide plays,Sitting with Ripeness 'neath the orchard tree,Trying repeatedly the same shrill phrase,Until the musky peach with wearinessDrops, and the hum of murmuring bees grows less?
Words in this poem
- hotness n.
- The quality or state of being hot.
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
- beady a.
- Resembling beads; small, round, and glistening.
- incessantly adv.
- Unceasingly; continually.
- cloudless a.
- Without a cloud; clear; bright.
- haggard a.
- Wild or intractable; disposed to break away from duty; untamed; as, a haggard or refractory hawk. Shak [F. hagard; of German origin, and prop. meaning, of the hegde or woods, wild, untamed. See Hedge, 1st Haw, and -ard.]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- somnolence n.
- Sleepiness; drowsiness; inclination to sleep. [L. somnolentia: cf. F. somnolence.]
- dell n.
- A small, retired valley; a ravine. [AS. del, akin to E. dale; cf. D. delle, del, low ground. See Dale.]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- sleepily adv.
- In a sleepy manner; drowsily.
- monotony n.
- A frequent recurrence of the same tone or sound, producing a dull uniformity; absence of variety, as in speaking or singing. [Gr. monotonie. See Monotonius.]
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- noontide n.
- The time of noon; midday. [From noon + tide time; cf. AS. n the ninth hour.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Locust 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 Locust, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/the-locust.html, id L10928.
Form and metre
The Locust is 36 lines in 4 stanzas of 9 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCBCDD, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 39% 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 ABABCBCDD breastA · loudB · bestA · crowdB · afternoonC · browedB · tuneC · ariseD · skiesD
- 2 ABABCBCDD hillsA · wakesB · fillsA · takesB · fieldsC · slakesB · shieldsC · eyeD · dryD
- 3 ABABCBCDD spellA · sleepB · dellA · steepB · boughsC · sheepB · cowsC · seemsD · dreamsD
- 4 -ABACBCDD monotony · timeA · gleeB · rhymeA · playsC · treeB · phraseC · wearinessD · lessD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thou pulse of hotness, who, with reedlike breast, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Makest meridian music, long and loud, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Accentuating summer!--Dost thy best | 10 | ˘/˘·˘/˘··· |
| To make the sunbeams fiercer, and to crowd | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| With lonesomeness the long, close afternoon-- | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| When Labor leans, swart-faced and beady-browed, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Upon his sultry scythe--thou tangible tune | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Of heat, whose waves incessantly arise | 10 | ····˘/˘˘˘/ |
| Quivering and clear beneath the cloudless skies. | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Thou singest, and upon his haggard hills | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Drouth yawns and rubs his heavy eyes and wakes; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Brushes the hot hair from his face; and fills | 10 | /˘········ |
| The land with death as sullenly he takes | 10 | ·········· |
| Downward his dusty way. 'Midst woods and fields | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| At every pool his burning thirst he slakes: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| No grove so deep, no bank so high it shields | 10 | ·········· |
| A spring from him; no creek evades his eye: | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| He needs but look and they are withered dry. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Thou singest, and thy song is as a spell | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Of somnolence to charm the land with sleep; | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| A thorn of sound that pierces dale and dell, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Diffusing slumber over vale and steep. | 10 | ˘/˘/˘····· |
| Sleepy the forest, nodding sleepy boughs; | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Sleepy the pastures with their sleepy sheep: | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Sleepy the creek where sleepily the cows | 10 | /˘···/˘˘·· |
| Stand knee-deep; and the very heaven seems | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Sleepy and lost in undetermined dreams. | 10 | /˘····˘/˘· |
| Art thou a rattle that Monotony, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Summer's dull nurse, old sister of slow Time, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Shakes for Day's peevish pleasure, who in glee | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Takes its discordant music for sweet rhyme? | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Or oboe that the Summer Noontide plays, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Sitting with Ripeness 'neath the orchard tree, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Trying repeatedly the same shrill phrase, | 10 | /˘˘/˘˘···· |
| Until the musky peach with weariness | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Drops, and the hum of murmuring bees grows less? | 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.