The Scene Is Supposed to Lie on the Thames Near Richmond
In yonder grave a Druid lies,Where slowly winds the stealing wave;The year's best sweets shall duteous riseTo deck its poet's sylvan grave.
In yon deep bed of whispering reedsHis airy harp shall now be laid,That he, whose heart in sorrow bleeds,May love through life the soothing shade.
Then maids and youths shall linger here,And while its sounds at distance swell,Shall sadly seem in pity's earTo hear the woodland pilgrim's knell.
Remembrance oft shall haunt the shoreWhen Thames in summer wreaths is drest,And oft suspend the dashing oar,To bid his gentle spirit rest!
And oft, as ease and health retireTo breezy lawn, or forest deep,The friend shall view yon whitening spireAnd 'mid the varied landscape weep.
But thou, who own'st that earthy bed,Ah! what will every dirge avail;Or tears, which love and pity shed,That mourn beneath the gliding sail?
Yet lives there one, whose heedless eyeShall scorn thy pale shrine glimmering near?With him, sweet bard, may fancy die,And joy desert the blooming year.
But thou, lorn stream, whose sullen tideNo sedge-crown'd sisters now attend,Now waft me from the green hill's side,Whose cold turf hides the buried friend!
And see, the fairy valleys fade;Dun night has veil'd the solemn view!Yet once again, dear parted shade,Meek Nature's Child, again adieu!
The genial meads, assign'd to blessThy life, shall mourn thy early doom;Their hinds and shepherd-girls shall dress,With simple hands, thy rural tomb.
Long, long, thy stone and pointed clayShall melt the musing Briton's eyes:O! vales and wild woods, shall he say,In yonder grave your Druid lies!
Words in this poem
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- druid n.
- One of an order of priests which in ancient times existed among certain branches of the Celtic race, especially among the Gauls and Britons. [L. Druides; of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. & Gael. draoi, druidh, magician, Druid, W. derwydd Druid.]
- 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,]
- duteous a.
- Fulfilling duty; dutiful; having the sentiments due to a superior, or to one to whom respect or service is owed; obedient; as, a duteous son or daughter. [From Duty.]
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
- breezy a.
- Characterized by, or having, breezes; airy.
- whitening n.
- The act or process of making or becoming white.
- dirge n.
- A piece of music of a mournful character, to accompany funeral rites; a funeral hymn. [Contraction of Lat. dirige, direct thou (imperative of dirigere), the first word of a funeral hymn (Lat. transl. of Psalm v. 8) beginning, "Dirige, Domine, in c]
- lorn a.
- Lost; undone; ruined. [Strong p. p. of Lose. See Lose, Forlorn.]
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- waft v. t.
- To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon. [Prob. originally imp. & p. p. of wave, v. t. See Wave to waver.]
- genial a.
- Contributing to, or concerned in, propagation or production; generative; procreative; productive. [L. genialis: cf. OF. genial. See Genius.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Scene Is Supposed to Lie on the Thames Near Richmond is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of William Collins; With a Memoir, Project Gutenberg ebook #29879; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Collins, The Scene Is Supposed to Lie on the Thames Near Richmond, in Poetical Works (1746), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29879, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/collins-poems/the-scene-is-supposed-to-lie-on-the-thames-near-richmond.html, id L13355.
Form and metre
The Scene Is Supposed to Lie on the Thames Near Richmond is 44 lines in 11 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 23% 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 liesA · waveB · riseA · graveB
- 2 ABAB reedsA · laidB · bleedsA · shadeB
- 3 ABAB hereA · swellB · earA · knellB
- 4 ABAB shoreA · drestB · oarA · restB
- 5 ABAB retireA · deepB · spireA · weepB
- 6 ABAB bedA · availB · shedA · sailB
- 7 ABAB eyeA · nearB · dieA · yearB
- 8 ABAB tideA · attendB · sideA · friendB
- 9 ABAB fadeA · viewB · shadeA · adieuB
- 10 ABAB blessA · doomB · dressA · tombB
- 11 ABAB clayA · eyesB · sayA · liesB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In yonder grave a Druid lies, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Where slowly winds the stealing wave; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The year's best sweets shall duteous rise | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| To deck its poet's sylvan grave. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| In yon deep bed of whispering reeds | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| His airy harp shall now be laid, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That he, whose heart in sorrow bleeds, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| May love through life the soothing shade. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Then maids and youths shall linger here, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And while its sounds at distance swell, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Shall sadly seem in pity's ear | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To hear the woodland pilgrim's knell. | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| Remembrance oft shall haunt the shore | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| When Thames in summer wreaths is drest, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And oft suspend the dashing oar, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| To bid his gentle spirit rest! | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And oft, as ease and health retire | 8 | ······˘/ |
| To breezy lawn, or forest deep, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The friend shall view yon whitening spire | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| And 'mid the varied landscape weep. | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| But thou, who own'st that earthy bed, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Ah! what will every dirge avail; | 9 | ···/˘˘·˘/ |
| Or tears, which love and pity shed, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That mourn beneath the gliding sail? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Yet lives there one, whose heedless eye | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Shall scorn thy pale shrine glimmering near? | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| With him, sweet bard, may fancy die, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And joy desert the blooming year. | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| But thou, lorn stream, whose sullen tide | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| No sedge-crown'd sisters now attend, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Now waft me from the green hill's side, | 8 | ········ |
| Whose cold turf hides the buried friend! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And see, the fairy valleys fade; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Dun night has veil'd the solemn view! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Yet once again, dear parted shade, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Meek Nature's Child, again adieu! | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘/ |
| The genial meads, assign'd to bless | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Thy life, shall mourn thy early doom; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Their hinds and shepherd-girls shall dress, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With simple hands, thy rural tomb. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Long, long, thy stone and pointed clay | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Shall melt the musing Briton's eyes: | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| O! vales and wild woods, shall he say, | 8 | ········ |
| In yonder grave your Druid lies! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
Notes from the edition 3
Notes to the Poetical Works of William Collins, ed. W. C. Bronson (Project Gutenberg #29879).
- Stanza 2, line 2 The harp of Æolus, of which see a description in the Castle of Indolence. C.
- Stanza 5, line 3 Richmond Church, in which Thomson was buried. C.
- Stanza 10, line 1 Mr. Thomson resided in the neighbourhood of Richmond some time before his death.
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.