The Path to Faery
When dusk falls cool as a rained-on rose,And a tawny tower the twilight shows,With the crescent moon, the silver moon, the curvednew moon in a space that glows,A turret window that grows alight;There is a path that my Fancy knows,A glimmering, shimmering path of night,That far as the Land of Faery goes.
And I follow the path, as Fancy leads,Over the mountains, into the meads,Where the firefly cities, the glowworm cities, the faerycities are strung like beads,Each city a twinkling star:And I live a life of valorous deeds,And march with the Faery King to war,And ride with his knights on milk-white steeds.
Or it's there in the whirl of their life I sit,Or dance in their houses with starlight lit,Their blossom houses, their flower houses, their elfinhouses, of fern leaves knit,With fronded spires and domes:And there it is that my lost dreams flit,And the ghost of my childhood, smiling, roamsWith the faery children so dear to it.
And it's there I hear that they all come true,The faery stories, whatever they do--Elf and goblin, dear elf and goblin, loved elf and goblin,and all the crewOf witch and wizard and gnome and fay,And prince and princess, that wander throughThe storybooks we have put away,The faerytales that we loved and knew.
The face of Adventure lures you there,And the eyes of Danger bid you dare,While ever the bugles, the silver bugles, the far-offbugles of Elfland blare,The faery trumpets to battle blow;And you feel their thrill in your heart and hair,And you fain would follow and mount and goAnd march with the Faeries anywhere.
And she--she rides at your side again,Your little sweetheart whose age is ten:She is the princess, the faery princess, the princess fairthat you worshiped whenYou were a prince in a faerytale;And you do great deeds as you did them then,With your magic spear, and enchanted mail,Braving the dragon in his den.
And you ask again,--"Oh, where shall we ride,Now that the monster is slain, my bride?"--"Back to the cities, the firefly cities, the glowwormcities where we can hide,The beautiful cities of Faeryland.And the light of my eyes shall be your guide,The light of my eyes and my snow-white hand--And there forever we two will abide."
Words in this poem 19
- shimmering n.
- A gleam or glimmering.
- firefly n.
- Any luminous winged insect, esp. luminous beetles of the family Lampyridæ.
- glowworm n.
- A coleopterous insect of the genus Lampyris; esp., the wingless females and larvæ of the two European species (L. noctiluca, and L.
- twinkling n.
- The act of one who, or of that which, twinkles; a quick movement of the eye; a wink; a twinkle. Holland.
- valorous a.
- Possessing or exhibiting valor; brave; courageous; valiant; intrepid. [Cf. F. valeureux, LL. valorosus.]
- starlight n.
- The light given by the stars.
- elfin a.
- Relating to elves.
- fronded a.
- Furnished with fronds.
- flit a.
- Nimble; quick; swift. See Fleet.
- 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.]
- childhood n.
- The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty. [AS. cildhad; cild child + -had. See Child, and hood.]
- gnome n.
- An imaginary being, supposed by the Rosicrucians to inhabit the inner parts of the earth, and to be the guardian of mines, quarries, etc. [F. gnome, prob. fr. Gr. i. e., of the treasures in the inner parts of the earth, or fr. Know.]
- princess n.
- A female prince; a woman having sovereign power, or the rank of a prince. [F. princesse. See Prince, and cf. Princesse.]
- blare v. i.
- To sound loudly and somewhat harshly. [OE. blaren, bloren, to cry, woop; cf. G. plärren to bleat, D. blaren to bleat, cry, weep. Prob. an imitative word, but cf. also E. blast. Cf. Blore.]
- trumpets n.
- A plant (Sarracenia flava) with long, hollow leaves.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- enchanted a.
- Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
- braving n.
- A bravado; a boast.
- 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 Path to Faery 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 Path to Faery, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/the-path-to-faery.html, id L10900.
Form and metre
The Path to Faery is 56 lines in 7 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%). 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.3 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% 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 AA-ABABA roseA · showsA · curved · glowsA · alightB · knowsA · nightB · goesA
- 2 AA-A-A-A leadsA · meadsA · faery · beadsA · star · deedsA · war · steedsA
- 3 AA-ABABA sitA · litA · elfin · knitA · domesB · flitA · roamsB · itA
- 4 AA-ABABA trueA · doA · goblin · crewA · fayB · throughA · awayB · knewA
- 5 AA-ABABA thereA · dareA · off · blareA · blowB · hairA · goB · anywhereA
- 6 AA-ABABA againA · tenA · fair · whenA · faerytaleB · thenA · mailB · denA
- 7 AA-ABABA rideA · brideA · glowworm · hideA · faerylandB · guideA · handB · abideA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When dusk falls cool as a rained-on rose, | 9 | ········· |
| And a tawny tower the twilight shows, | 9 | ··/˘/·/·· |
| With the crescent moon, the silver moon, the curved | 11 | ··/˘··/˘··· |
| new moon in a space that glows, | 7 | ······· |
| A turret window that grows alight; | 9 | ·/˘/˘··˘/ |
| There is a path that my Fancy knows, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| A glimmering, shimmering path of night, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| That far as the Land of Faery goes. | 9 | ········· |
| And I follow the path, as Fancy leads, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Over the mountains, into the meads, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Where the firefly cities, the glowworm cities, the faery | 15 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘/˘··· |
| cities are strung like beads, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Each city a twinkling star: | 8 | ·/˘·/˘˘· |
| And I live a life of valorous deeds, | 10 | ······/˘˘· |
| And march with the Faery King to war, | 9 | ········· |
| And ride with his knights on milk-white steeds. | 9 | ········· |
| Or it's there in the whirl of their life I sit, | 11 | ··········· |
| Or dance in their houses with starlight lit, | 10 | ····/˘·/·· |
| Their blossom houses, their flower houses, their elfin | 12 | ·/˘/˘·//˘·/˘ |
| houses, of fern leaves knit, | 6 | /˘···· |
| With fronded spires and domes: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And there it is that my lost dreams flit, | 9 | ········· |
| And the ghost of my childhood, smiling, roams | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| With the faery children so dear to it. | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| And it's there I hear that they all come true, | 10 | ·········· |
| The faery stories, whatever they do-- | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| Elf and goblin, dear elf and goblin, loved elf and goblin, | 14 | ··/˘···/˘···/˘ |
| and all the crew | 4 | ···· |
| Of witch and wizard and gnome and fay, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And prince and princess, that wander through | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| The storybooks we have put away, | 9 | ·/˘····˘/ |
| The faerytales that we loved and knew. | 9 | ········· |
| The face of Adventure lures you there, | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| And the eyes of Danger bid you dare, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| While ever the bugles, the silver bugles, the far-off | 13 | ·/·/˘·/˘/˘··· |
| bugles of Elfland blare, | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| The faery trumpets to battle blow; | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| And you feel their thrill in your heart and hair, | 10 | ·········· |
| And you fain would follow and mount and go | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| And march with the Faeries anywhere. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And she--she rides at your side again, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Your little sweetheart whose age is ten: | 9 | ·/˘/····· |
| She is the princess, the faery princess, the princess fair | 14 | ···/˘···/˘·/˘· |
| that you worshiped when | 5 | ··/˘· |
| You were a prince in a faerytale; | 10 | ·········· |
| And you do great deeds as you did them then, | 10 | ·········· |
| With your magic spear, and enchanted mail, | 10 | ··/˘··˘/˘· |
| Braving the dragon in his den. | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| And you ask again,--"Oh, where shall we ride, | 10 | ···˘/····· |
| Now that the monster is slain, my bride?"-- | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| "Back to the cities, the firefly cities, the glowworm | 14 | ···/˘·/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| cities where we can hide, | 6 | /˘···· |
| The beautiful cities of Faeryland. | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| And the light of my eyes shall be your guide, | 10 | ·········· |
| The light of my eyes and my snow-white hand-- | 10 | ·········· |
| And there forever we two will abide." | 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.