The Man Hunt
The woods stretch deep to the mountain side,And the brush is wild where a man may hide.
They have brought the bloodhounds up againTo the roadside rock where they found the slain.
They have brought the bloodhounds up, and theyHave taken the trail to the mountain way.
Three times they circled the trail and crossed;And thrice they found it and thrice they lost.
Now straight through the trees and the underbrushThey follow the scent through the forest's hush.
And their deep-mouthed bay is a pulse of fearIn the heart of the wood that the man must hear.
The man who crouches among the treesFrom the stern-faced men who follow these.
A huddle of rocks that the ooze has mossed,And the trail of the hunted again is lost.
An upturned pebble; a bit of groundA heel has trampled--the trail is found.
And the woods re-echo the bloodhounds' bayAs again they take to the mountain way.
A rock; a ribbon of road; a ledge,With a pine tree clutching its crumbling edge.
A pine, that the lightning long since clave,Whose huge roots hollow a ragged cave.
A shout; a curse; and a face aghast;The human quarry is laired at last.
The human quarry with clay-clogged hairAnd eyes of terror who waits them there.
That glares and crouches and rising thenHurls clods and curses at dogs and men.
Until the blow of a gun-butt laysHim stunned and bleeding upon his face.
A rope; a prayer; and an oak-tree near,And a score of hands to swing him clear.
A grim, black thing for the setting sunAnd the moon and the stars to gaze upon.
Words in this poem
- roadside n.
- Land adjoining a road or highway; the part of a road or highway that borders the traveled part. Also used ajectively.
- circled a.
- Having the form of a circle; round.
- underbrush n.
- Shrubs, small trees, and the like, in a wood or forest, growing beneath large trees; undergrowth.
- huddle v. i.
- To press together promiscuously, from confusion, apprehension, or the like; to crowd together confusedly; to press or hurry in disorder; to crowd. [Cf. OE. hoderen, hodren, to cover, keep, warm; perh. akin to OE. huden, hiden, to hide, E. hide, and orig. meaning, to get together for protection in a safe pla]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Man Hunt 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 Man Hunt, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/the-man-hunt.html, id L10942.
Form and metre
The Man Hunt is 36 lines in 18 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 83% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.4 syllables. 31% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AA sideA · hideA
- 2 AA againA · slainA
- 3 AA theyA · wayA
- 4 AA crossedA · lostA
- 5 AA underbrushA · hushA
- 6 AA fearA · hearA
- 7 AA treesA · theseA
- 9 AA groundA · foundA
- 10 AA bayA · wayA
- 11 AA ledgeA · edgeA
- 12 AA claveA · caveA
- 13 AA aghastA · lastA
- 14 AA hairA · thereA
- 15 AA thenA · menA
- 17 AA nearA · clearA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The woods stretch deep to the mountain side, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And the brush is wild where a man may hide. | 10 | ·········· |
| They have brought the bloodhounds up again | 9 | ····/˘·˘/ |
| To the roadside rock where they found the slain. | 10 | ··/······· |
| They have brought the bloodhounds up, and they | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Have taken the trail to the mountain way. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Three times they circled the trail and crossed; | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And thrice they found it and thrice they lost. | 9 | ········· |
| Now straight through the trees and the underbrush | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| They follow the scent through the forest's hush. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And their deep-mouthed bay is a pulse of fear | 10 | ·········· |
| In the heart of the wood that the man must hear. | 11 | ··········· |
| The man who crouches among the trees | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| From the stern-faced men who follow these. | 9 | ······/˘· |
| A huddle of rocks that the ooze has mossed, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And the trail of the hunted again is lost. | 11 | ·····/˘˘/·· |
| An upturned pebble; a bit of ground | 9 | ·˘//˘···· |
| A heel has trampled--the trail is found. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And the woods re-echo the bloodhounds' bay | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| As again they take to the mountain way. | 10 | ·˘/····/˘· |
| A rock; a ribbon of road; a ledge, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| With a pine tree clutching its crumbling edge. | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| A pine, that the lightning long since clave, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Whose huge roots hollow a ragged cave. | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| A shout; a curse; and a face aghast; | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| The human quarry is laired at last. | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| The human quarry with clay-clogged hair | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| And eyes of terror who waits them there. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| That glares and crouches and rising then | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| Hurls clods and curses at dogs and men. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Until the blow of a gun-butt lays | 9 | ········· |
| Him stunned and bleeding upon his face. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| A rope; a prayer; and an oak-tree near, | 9 | ········· |
| And a score of hands to swing him clear. | 9 | ········· |
| A grim, black thing for the setting sun | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And the moon and the stars to gaze upon. | 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.