The Wayfarers II
Old man with the pale blue eyes,Mild and clear!Why, as thou dost fare,With that pondering airInto passing faces dost thou peer?Why dost pause, where dim like autumn skiesStarry asters grow? Why gazest thouO’er the round hill’s brow?
“Ah, from each gray-bearded faceWould I knowWhat that heart hath found;And in youths that boundSee a youth who vanished long ago!In each flower a memory can I trace;O’er the hill the green, still place may beThat doth wait for me!”
Words in this poem
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Wayfarers II 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 Wayfarers II, 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-wayfarers-ii.html, id L22080.
Form and metre
The Wayfarers II is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABCCBADD.
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 ABCCBADD eyesA · clearB · fareC · airC · peerB · skiesA · thouD · browD
- 2 ABCCBADD faceA · knowB · foundC · boundC · agoB · traceA · beD · meD
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Old man with the pale blue eyes, | 7 | ······· |
| Mild and clear! | 3 | ··· |
| Why, as thou dost fare, | 5 | ····· |
| With that pondering air | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| Into passing faces dost thou peer? | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| Why dost pause, where dim like autumn skies | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Starry asters grow? Why gazest thou | 9 | /˘/˘····· |
| O’er the round hill’s brow? | 5 | ····· |
| “Ah, from each gray-bearded face | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Would I know | 3 | ··· |
| What that heart hath found; | 5 | ····· |
| And in youths that bound | 5 | ····· |
| See a youth who vanished long ago! | 9 | ····/˘·˘/ |
| In each flower a memory can I trace; | 10 | ··/·/˘˘··· |
| O’er the hill the green, still place may be | 9 | ········· |
| That doth wait for me!” | 5 | ····· |
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.