Voyagers
Where are they, that song and taleTell of? lands our childhood knew?Sea-locked Faerylands that trailMorning summits, dim with dew,Crimson o'er a crimson sail.
Where in dreams we entered onWonders eyes have never seen:Whither often we have gone,Sailing a dream-brigantineOn from voyaging dawn to dawn.
Leons seeking lands of song;Fabled fountains pouring spray;Where our anchors dropped amongCorals of some tropic bay,With its swarthy native throng.
Shoulder ax and arquebus!--We may find it!--past yon rangeOf sierras, vaporous,Rich with gold and wild and strangeThat lost region dear to us.
Yet, behold, although our zealDarien summits may subdue,Our Balboa eyes revealBut a vaster sea come to--New endeavor for our keel.
Yet! who sails with face set hardWestward,--while behind him liesUnfaith,--where his dreams keep guardRound it, in the sunset skies,He may reach it--afterward.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- whither adv.
- To what place; -- used interrogatively; as, whither goest thou [OE. whider. AS. hwider; akin to E. where, who; cf. Goth. hvadre whither. See Who, and cf. Hither, Thither.]
- unfaith n.
- Absence or want of faith; faithlessness; distrust; unbelief.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Voyagers 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, Voyagers, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/voyagers.html, id L10891.
Form and metre
Voyagers is 30 lines in 6 stanzas of 5 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABA, in 2 of the 6 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, 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 7.3 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 40% 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 taleA · knewB · trailA · dewB · sailA
- 2 A-A-A onA · seen · goneA · brigantine · dawnA
- 3 AB-BA songA · sprayB · among · bayB · throngA
- 4 -A-A- arquebus · rangeA · vaporous · strangeA · us
- 5 ABABA zealA · subdueB · revealA · toB · keelA
- 6 ABAB- hardA · liesB · guardA · skiesB · afterward
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Where are they, that song and tale | 7 | ······· |
| Tell of? lands our childhood knew? | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| Sea-locked Faerylands that trail | 8 | ··˘····· |
| Morning summits, dim with dew, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Crimson o'er a crimson sail. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Where in dreams we entered on | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Wonders eyes have never seen: | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Whither often we have gone, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Sailing a dream-brigantine | 7 | /˘··/˘˘ |
| On from voyaging dawn to dawn. | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Leons seeking lands of song; | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Fabled fountains pouring spray; | 8 | /˘˘/˘/˘· |
| Where our anchors dropped among | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Corals of some tropic bay, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| With its swarthy native throng. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Shoulder ax and arquebus!-- | 7 | /˘····· |
| We may find it!--past yon range | 7 | ······· |
| Of sierras, vaporous, | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Rich with gold and wild and strange | 7 | ······· |
| That lost region dear to us. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Yet, behold, although our zeal | 8 | ·˘/··/˘· |
| Darien summits may subdue, | 8 | /˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| Our Balboa eyes reveal | 8 | /˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| But a vaster sea come to-- | 7 | ······· |
| New endeavor for our keel. | 8 | ·˘/˘·/˘· |
| Yet! who sails with face set hard | 7 | ······· |
| Westward,--while behind him lies | 7 | /˘····· |
| Unfaith,--where his dreams keep guard | 7 | ˘/····· |
| Round it, in the sunset skies, | 7 | ····/·· |
| He may reach it--afterward. | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
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.