Song
One gloomy eve I roam’d about’Neath Oxey’s hazel bowers,While timid hares were darting out,To crop the dewy flowers;And soothing was the scene to me,Right pleased was my soul,My breast was calm as summer’s seaWhen waves forget to roll.
But short was even’s placid smile,My startled soul to charm,When Nelly lightly skipt the stile,With milk-pail on her arm:One careless look on me she flung,As bright as parting day:And like a hawk from covert sprung,It pounc’d my peace away.
Words in this poem
- placid a.
- Pleased; contented; unruffied; undisturbed; serene; peaceful; tranquil; quiet; gentle. [L. placidus, originally, pleasing, mild, from placere to please: cf. F. placide. See Please.]
- stile n.
- A pin set on the face of a dial, to cast a shadow; a style. See Style. Moxon. [See Style.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #52601; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Clare, Song, in Poems (1820–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #52601, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/clare-poems/song.html, id L06667.
Form and metre
Song is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 97%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% 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 ABABCDCD aboutA · bowersB · outA · flowersB · meC · soulD · seaC · rollD
- 2 ABABCDCD smileA · charmB · stileA · armB · flungC · dayD · sprungC · awayD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| One gloomy eve I roam’d about | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| ’Neath Oxey’s hazel bowers, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| While timid hares were darting out, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To crop the dewy flowers; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| And soothing was the scene to me, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Right pleased was my soul, | 5 | ····· |
| My breast was calm as summer’s sea | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When waves forget to roll. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| But short was even’s placid smile, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| My startled soul to charm, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| When Nelly lightly skipt the stile, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| With milk-pail on her arm: | 6 | ······ |
| One careless look on me she flung, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| As bright as parting day: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And like a hawk from covert sprung, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| It pounc’d my peace away. | 6 | ····˘/ |
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.