The Arrowmaker
Day in, day out, or sun or rain,Or sallow leaf, or summer grain,Beneath a wintry morning moonOr through red smouldering afternoon,With simple joy, with careful pride,He plies the craft he long has plied:To shape the stave, to set the sting,To fit the shaft with irised wing;And farers by may hear him sing,For still his door is wide:“Laugh and sigh, live and die,--The world swings round; I know not, I,If north or south mine arrows fly!”
And sometimes, while he works, he dreams,And on his soul a vision gleams:Some storied field fought long ago,Where arrows fell as thick as snow.His breath comes fast, his eyes grow bright,To think upon that ancient fight.Oh, leaping from the strainèd stringAgainst an armoured Wrong to ring,Brave the songs that arrows sing!He weighs the finished flight:“Live and die; by and byThe sun kills dark; I know not, I,In what good fight mine arrows fly!”
Or at the gray hour, weary grown,When curfew o’er the wold is blown,He sees, as in a magic glass,Some lost and lonely mountain-pass;And lo! a sign of deathful routThe mocking vine has wound about,--An earth-fixed arrow by a spring,All greenly mossed, a mouldered thing;That stifled shaft no more shall sing!He shakes his head in doubt.“Laugh and sigh, live and die,--The hand is blind: I know not, I,In what lost pass mine arrows lie!One to east, one to west,Another for the eagle’s breast,--The archer and the wind know best!”The stars are in the sky;He lays his arrows by.
Words in this poem
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
- smouldering a.
- Being in a state of suppressed activity; quiet but not dead.
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
- craft n.
- Strength; might; secret power. [AS. cr strength, skill, art, cunning; akin to OS., G., Sw., & Dan. kraft strength, D. kracht, Icel. kraptr; perh. originally, a drawing together, stretching, fr]
- irised a.
- Having colors like those of the rainbow; iridescent. Holmes. [See Iris.]
- storied a.
- Told in a story. [From Story.]
- armoured a.
- Clad with armor.
- curfew n.
- The ringing of an evening bell, originally a signal to the inhabitants to cover fires, extinguish lights, and retire to rest, -- instituted by William the Conqueror; also, the bell itself. [OE. courfew, curfu, fr. OF. cuevrefu, covrefeu, F. couvre-feu; covrir to cover + feu fire, fr. L. focus fireplace, hearth. See Cover, and Focus.]
- wold n.
- A wood; a forest. [OE. wold, wald, AS. weald, wald, a wood, forest; akin to OFries. & OS. wald, D. woud, G. wald, Icel. völlr, a field, and probably to Gr. va a garden, inclosure.]
- deathful a.
- Full of death or slaughter; murderous; destructive; bloody.
- greenly adv.
- With a green color; newly; freshly, immaturely.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Arrowmaker is in the public domain. This text is taken from A chant of love for England, and other poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #71425; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Helen Gray Cone, The Arrowmaker, in A Chant of Love for England, and Other Poems (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #71425, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cone-chant-for-england/the-arrowmaker.html, id L22058.
Form and metre
The Arrowmaker is 44 lines in 3 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABBCCDDDCEEE, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 AABBCCDDDCEEE rainA · grainA · moonB · afternoonB · prideC · pliedC · stingD · wingD · singD · wideC · dieE · iE · flyE
- 2 AABBCCDDDCEEE dreamsA · gleamsA · agoB · snowB · brightC · fightC · stringD · ringD · singD · flightC · byE · iE · flyE
- 3 AABBCCDDDCEEEFFFEE grownA · blownA · glassB · passB · routC · aboutC · springD · thingD · singD · doubtC · dieE · iE · lieE · westF · breastF · bestF · skyE · byE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Day in, day out, or sun or rain, | 8 | ········ |
| Or sallow leaf, or summer grain, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Beneath a wintry morning moon | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Or through red smouldering afternoon, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| With simple joy, with careful pride, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| He plies the craft he long has plied: | 8 | ········ |
| To shape the stave, to set the sting, | 8 | ········ |
| To fit the shaft with irised wing; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And farers by may hear him sing, | 8 | ········ |
| For still his door is wide: | 6 | ······ |
| “Laugh and sigh, live and die,-- | 6 | ······ |
| The world swings round; I know not, I, | 8 | ········ |
| If north or south mine arrows fly!” | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And sometimes, while he works, he dreams, | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| And on his soul a vision gleams: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Some storied field fought long ago, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Where arrows fell as thick as snow. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| His breath comes fast, his eyes grow bright, | 8 | ········ |
| To think upon that ancient fight. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Oh, leaping from the strainèd string | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Against an armoured Wrong to ring, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Brave the songs that arrows sing! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| He weighs the finished flight: | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| “Live and die; by and by | 6 | ······ |
| The sun kills dark; I know not, I, | 8 | ········ |
| In what good fight mine arrows fly!” | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or at the gray hour, weary grown, | 8 | ····//˘· |
| When curfew o’er the wold is blown, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| He sees, as in a magic glass, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Some lost and lonely mountain-pass; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And lo! a sign of deathful rout | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The mocking vine has wound about,-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| An earth-fixed arrow by a spring, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| All greenly mossed, a mouldered thing; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That stifled shaft no more shall sing! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| He shakes his head in doubt. | 6 | ······ |
| “Laugh and sigh, live and die,-- | 6 | ······ |
| The hand is blind: I know not, I, | 8 | ········ |
| In what lost pass mine arrows lie! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| One to east, one to west, | 6 | ······ |
| Another for the eagle’s breast,-- | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| The archer and the wind know best!” | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The stars are in the sky; | 6 | ······ |
| He lays his arrows by. | 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.