Inscription for a Fountain on a Heath
This Sycamore, oft musical with bees,--Such tents the Patriarchs loved! O long unharmedMay all its aged boughs o'er-canopyThe small round basin, which this jutting stoneKeeps pure from falling leaves! Long may the Spring,Quietly as a sleeping infant's breath,Send up cold waters to the travellerWith soft and even pulse! Nor ever ceaseYon tiny cone of sand its soundless dance,Which at the bottom, like a Fairy's Page,As merry and no taller, dances still,Nor wrinkles the smooth surface of the Fount.Here twilight is and coolness: here is moss,A soft seat, and a deep and ample shade.Thou may'st toil far and find no second tree.Drink, Pilgrim, here! Here rest! and if thy heartBe innocent, here too shalt thou refreshThy spirit, listening to some gentle sound,Or passing gale or hum of murmuring bees!
Words in this poem
- jutting a.
- Projecting, as corbels, cornices, etc.
- soundless a.
- Not capable of being sounded or fathomed; unfathomable.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Inscription for a Fountain on a Heath is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Coleridge, Project Gutenberg ebook #8208; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Inscription for a Fountain on a Heath, in Poems of Coleridge (1796–1817), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8208, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coleridge-poems/inscription-for-a-fountain-on-a-heath.html, id L00391.
Form and metre
Inscription for a Fountain on a Heath is 19 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.6 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 37% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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 A-----------------A beesA · unharmed · canopy · stone · spring · breath · traveller · cease · dance · page · still · fount · moss · shade · tree · heart · refresh · sound · beesA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| This Sycamore, oft musical with bees,-- | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| Such tents the Patriarchs loved! O long unharmed | 11 | ···/˘····˘/ |
| May all its aged boughs o'er-canopy | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| The small round basin, which this jutting stone | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Keeps pure from falling leaves! Long may the Spring, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Quietly as a sleeping infant's breath, | 9 | /˘··/˘/˘· |
| Send up cold waters to the traveller | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| With soft and even pulse! Nor ever cease | 8 | ···/··/· |
| Yon tiny cone of sand its soundless dance, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Which at the bottom, like a Fairy's Page, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| As merry and no taller, dances still, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Nor wrinkles the smooth surface of the Fount. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Here twilight is and coolness: here is moss, | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| A soft seat, and a deep and ample shade. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Thou may'st toil far and find no second tree. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Drink, Pilgrim, here! Here rest! and if thy heart | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Be innocent, here too shalt thou refresh | 9 | ·/˘····˘/ |
| Thy spirit, listening to some gentle sound, | 9 | ·//˘··/˘· |
| Or passing gale or hum of murmuring bees! | 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.