The Old Farm

Madison Julius Cawein (1865–1914) · 1911

trochaic tetrameter · ABABA · 76 lines · from Poems

Dormered and verandaed, cool,Locust-girdled, on the hill;Stained with weather-wear, and dull-Streak'd with lichens; every sillThresholding the beautiful;

I can see it standing there,Brown above the woodland deep,Wrapped in lights of lavender,By the warm wind rocked asleep,Violet shadows everywhere.

I remember how the Spring,Liberal-lapped, bewildered itsAcred orchards, murmuring,Kissed to blossom; budded bitsWhere the wood-thrush came to sing.

Barefoot Spring, at first who trod,Like a beggermaid, adownThe wet woodland; where the god,With the bright sun for a crownAnd the firmament for rod,

Met her; clothed her; wedded her;Her Cophetua: when, lo!All the hill, one breathing blur,Burst in beauty; gleam and glowBlent with pearl and lavender.

Seckel, blackheart, palpitantRained their bleaching strays; and whiteSnowed the damson, bent aslant;Rambow-tree and romaniteSeemed beneath deep drifts to pant.

And it stood there, brown and gray,In the bee-boom and the bloom,In the shadow and the ray,In the passion and perfume,Grave as age among the gay.

Wild with laughter romped the clearBoyish voices round its walls;Rare wild-roses were the dearGirlish faces in its halls,Music-haunted all the year.

Far before it meadows fullOf green pennyroyal sank;Clover-dotted as with woolHere and there; with now a bankHot of color; and the cool

Dark-blue shadows unconfinedOf the clouds rolled overhead:Clouds, from which the summer windBlew with rain, and freshly shedDew upon the flowerkind.

Where through mint and gypsy-lilyRuns the rocky brook away,Musical among the hillySolitudes,--its flashing spraySunlight-dashed or forest-stilly,--

Buried in deep sassafras,Memory follows up the hillStill some cowbell's mellow brass,Where the ruined water-millLooms, half-hid in cane and grass....

Oh, the farmhouse! is it setOn the hilltop still? 'mid muskOf the meads? where, violet,Deepens all the dreaming dusk,And the locust-trees hang wet.

While the sunset, far and low,On its westward windows dashesPrimrose or pomegranate glow;And above, in glimmering splashes,Lilac stars the heavens sow.

Sleeps it still among its roses,--Oldtime roses? while the choirOf the lonesome insects dozes:And the white moon, drifting higher,O'er its mossy roof reposes--Sleeps it still among its roses?

Words in this poem 20

acred a.: Possessing acres or landed property; -- used in composition; as, large-acred men.
barefoot a.: With the feet bare; without shoes or stockings.
adown adv.: From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [OE. adun, adoun, adune. AS. of dune off the hill. See Down.]
firmament n.: Fixed foundation; established basis. [L. firmamentum, fr. firmare to make firm: cf. F. firmament. See Firm, v. & a.]
wedded a.: Joined in wedlock; married.
blent p. p.: Blinded. Also (Chaucer), 3d sing. pres. Blindeth.
seckel n.: A small reddish brown sweet and juicy pear. It originated on a farm near Philadelphia, afterwards owned by a Mr. Seckel.
blackheart n.: A heart-shaped cherry with a very dark-colored skin.
palpitant a.: Palpitating; throbbing; trembling. Carlyle. [L. palpitans, p. pr.]
damson n.: A small oval plum of a blue color, the fruit of a variety of the Prunus domestica; -- called also damask plum. [OE. damasin the Damascus plum, fr. L. Damascenus. See Damascene.]
aslant adv.: Toward one side; in a slanting direction; obliquely. [Pref. a- + slant.]
pant v. i.: To breathe quickly or in a labored manner, as after exertion or from eagerness or excitement; to respire with heaving of the breast; to gasp. [Cf. F. panteler to gasp for breath, OF. panteisier to be breathless, F. pantois out of breath; perh. akin to E. phantom, the verb prob. orig. meaning, to have t]
boyish a.: Resembling a boy in a manners or opinions; belonging to a boy; childish; trifling; puerile.
girlish a.: Like, or characteristic of, a girl; of or pertaining to girlhood; innocent; artless; immature; weak; as, girlish ways; girlish grief.
haunted a.: Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
pennyroyal n.: An aromatic herb (Mentha Pulegium) of Europe; also, a North American plant (Hedeoma pulegioides) resembling it in flavor. Bastard pennyroyal (Bot.) See Blue curls, under Blue. [A corruption of OE. puliall royal. OE. puliall is ultimately derived fr. L. puleium, or pulegium regium (so called as being good against fleas), fr. pulex a fle]
hilly a.: Abounding with hills; uneven in surface; as, a hilly country.
farmhouse n.: A dwelling house on a farm; a farmer's residence.
hilltop n.: The top of a hill.
lonesome a.: Secluded from society; not frequented by human beings; solitary.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

The Old Farm 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 Old Farm, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/the-old-farm.html, id L10865.

Form and metre

The Old Farm is 76 lines in 15 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABABA, complete in 11 of its 15 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.4 syllables. 18 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in trochaic 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 ABABA cool^A · hill^B · dull^A · sill^B · beautiful^A
2 AB-BA there^A · deep^B · lavender · asleep^B · everywhere^A
3 ABABA spring^A · its^B · murmuring^A · bits^B · sing^A
4 ABABA trod^A · adown^B · god^A · crown^B · rod^A
5 ABAB- her^A · lo^B · blur^A · glow^B · lavender
6 ABABA palpitant^A · white^B · aslant^A · romanite^B · pant^A
7 ABABA gray^A · bloom^B · ray^A · perfume^B · gay^A
8 ABABA clear^A · walls^B · dear^A · halls^B · year^A
9 ABAB- full^A · sank^B · wool^A · bank^B · cool
10 ABABA unconfined^A · overhead^B · wind^A · shed^B · flowerkind^A
11 ABABA lily^A · away^B · hilly^A · spray^B · stilly^A
12 ABABA sassafras^A · hill^B · brass^A · mill^B · grass^A
13 ABABA set^A · musk^B · violet^A · dusk^B · wet^A
14 ABABA low^A · dashes^B · glow^A · splashes^B · sow^A
15 ABABAA roses^A · choir^B · dozes^A · higher^B · reposes^A · roses^A

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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
Dormered and verandaed, cool,	8	/˘˘·˘/˘·
Locust-girdled, on the hill;	8	/˘/˘˘···
Stained with weather-wear, and dull-	8	·˘·/˘···
Streak'd with lichens; every sill	8	··/˘/˘˘·
Thresholding the beautiful;	7	/·˘·/˘˘
I can see it standing there,	7	····/˘·
Brown above the woodland deep,	7	····/··
Wrapped in lights of lavender,	8	·˘···/˘˘
By the warm wind rocked asleep,	8	·····˘˘/
Violet shadows everywhere.	8	/˘˘/·/˘·
I remember how the Spring,	7	·˘/˘···
Liberal-lapped, bewildered its	8	/˘˘·˘/˘·
Acred orchards, murmuring,	8	/˘˘/˘/˘˘
Kissed to blossom; budded bits	8	·˘·/˘/˘·
Where the wood-thrush came to sing.	7	·······
Barefoot Spring, at first who trod,	7	/······
Like a beggermaid, adown	7	·····˘/
The wet woodland; where the god,	7	··/····
With the bright sun for a crown	7	·······
And the firmament for rod,	7	··/˘˘··
Met her; clothed her; wedded her;	8	···˘·/˘·
Her Cophetua: when, lo!	6	······
All the hill, one breathing blur,	7	····/˘·
Burst in beauty; gleam and glow	7	··/˘···
Blent with pearl and lavender.	7	····/˘˘
Seckel, blackheart, palpitant	7	/˘/˘/˘˘
Rained their bleaching strays; and white	8	·˘·/˘···
Snowed the damson, bent aslant;	8	·˘·/˘·˘/
Rambow-tree and romanite	7	/˘·····
Seemed beneath deep drifts to pant.	8	·˘······
And it stood there, brown and gray,	7	·······
In the bee-boom and the bloom,	7	·······
In the shadow and the ray,	7	··/····
In the passion and perfume,	7	··/˘·˘/
Grave as age among the gay.	7	·······
Wild with laughter romped the clear	8	··/˘·˘··
Boyish voices round its walls;	7	/˘/˘···
Rare wild-roses were the dear	7	··/˘···
Girlish faces in its halls,	7	/˘/˘···
Music-haunted all the year.	7	/˘/˘···
Far before it meadows full	7	····/··
Of green pennyroyal sank;	6	······
Clover-dotted as with wool	7	/˘/˘···
Here and there; with now a bank	7	·······
Hot of color; and the cool	7	··/˘···
Dark-blue shadows unconfined	8	··/··˘/˘
Of the clouds rolled overhead:	8	····˘/˘/
Clouds, from which the summer wind	7	····/˘·
Blew with rain, and freshly shed	7	····/˘·
Dew upon the flowerkind.	7	·······
Where through mint and gypsy-lily	8	····/˘/˘
Runs the rocky brook away,	7	··/˘·˘/
Musical among the hilly	8	/˘˘···/˘
Solitudes,--its flashing spray	7	/˘··/˘·
Sunlight-dashed or forest-stilly,--	8	/···/˘/˘
Buried in deep sassafras,	7	/˘··/˘·
Memory follows up the hill	8	/˘˘/˘···
Still some cowbell's mellow brass,	7	··/·/˘·
Where the ruined water-mill	8	··/˘˘/˘·
Looms, half-hid in cane and grass....	7	·······
Oh, the farmhouse! is it set	7	··/····
On the hilltop still? 'mid musk	7	··/····
Of the meads? where, violet,	7	····/˘˘
Deepens all the dreaming dusk,	7	/˘··/˘·
And the locust-trees hang wet.	7	··/˘···
While the sunset, far and low,	7	··/····
On its westward windows dashes	8	··/˘/˘/˘
Primrose or pomegranate glow;	6	/··/˘·
And above, in glimmering splashes,	9	····/˘˘/˘
Lilac stars the heavens sow.	7	/···/˘·
Sleeps it still among its roses,--	8	······/˘
Oldtime roses? while the choir	8	··/˘··/˘
Of the lonesome insects dozes:	8	··/˘/·/˘
And the white moon, drifting higher,	8	····/˘/˘
O'er its mossy roof reposes--	8	··/˘·/·˘
Sleeps it still among its roses?	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.

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