The Solitary
Upon the mossed rock by the springShe sits, forgetful of her pail,Lost in remote rememberingOf that which may no more avail.
Her thin, pale hair is dimly dressedAbove a brow lined deep with care,The color of a leaf long pressed,A faded leaf that once was fair.
You may not know her from the stoneSo still she sits who does not stir,Thinking of this one thing alone--The love that never came to her.
Words in this poem
- forgetful a.
- Apt to forget; easily losing remembrance; as, a forgetful man should use helps to strengthen his memory.
- dimly adv.
- In a dim or obscure manner; not brightly or clearly; with imperfect sight.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Solitary 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 Solitary, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/the-solitary.html, id L10863.
Form and metre
The Solitary is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends 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 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 ABAB springA · pailB · rememberingA · availB
- 2 ABAB dressedA · careB · pressedA · fairB
- 3 ABAB stoneA · stirB · aloneA · herB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Upon the mossed rock by the spring | 8 | ········ |
| She sits, forgetful of her pail, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Lost in remote remembering | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Of that which may no more avail. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Her thin, pale hair is dimly dressed | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Above a brow lined deep with care, | 8 | ········ |
| The color of a leaf long pressed, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A faded leaf that once was fair. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| You may not know her from the stone | 8 | ········ |
| So still she sits who does not stir, | 8 | ········ |
| Thinking of this one thing alone-- | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| The love that never came to her. | 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.