“He Shall Drink of the Brook by the Way”
THE way is hot, the way is long,’Tis weary hours to even-song,And we must travel though we tire;But all the time beside the roadTrickle the small, clear rills of God,At hand for our desire.
Quick mercies, small amenities,Brief moments of repose and ease,—We stoop, and drink, and so fare on,Unpausing, but re-nerved in strengthFrom hour to hour, until at lengthNight falleth, and the day is done.
The birds sip of the wayside rill,And raise their heads in praises, stillUpborne upon their flashing wings;So drinking thus along the way,Our little meed of thanks we payTo Him who fills the water-springs,
And deals with equal tendernessThe larger mercies and the less:“O Lord, of good the fountain free,Close by our hard day’s journeyingBe thou the all-sufficing spring,And hourly let us drink of thee.”
Words in this poem
- wayside n.
- The side of the way; the edge or border of a road or path.
- rill n.
- A very small brook; a streamlet. [Cf. LG. rille a small channel or brook, a furrow, a chamfer, OE. rigol a small brook, F. rigole a trench or furrow for water, W. rhill a row, rhigol a little di]
- meed v. t.
- To reward; to repay. Waytt.
- hourly a.
- Happening or done every hour; occurring hour by hour; frequent; often repeated; renewed hour by hour; continual.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
“He Shall Drink of the Brook by the Way” is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Few More Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #49518; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Susan Coolidge, “He Shall Drink of the Brook by the Way”, in A Few More Verses (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49518, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coolidge-few-more-verses/he-shall-drink-of-the-brook-by-the-way.html, id L23447.
Form and metre
“He Shall Drink of the Brook by the Way” is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 AAB--B longA · songA · tireB · road · god · desireB
- 2 AA-BB- amenitiesA · easeA · on · strengthB · lengthB · done
- 3 AABCCB rillA · stillA · wingsB · wayC · payC · springsB
- 4 AABCCB tendernessA · lessA · freeB · journeyingC · springC · theeB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| THE way is hot, the way is long, | 8 | ········ |
| ’Tis weary hours to even-song, | 8 | ·/˘/·/˘· |
| And we must travel though we tire; | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| But all the time beside the road | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Trickle the small, clear rills of God, | 8 | /˘······ |
| At hand for our desire. | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| Quick mercies, small amenities, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Brief moments of repose and ease,— | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| We stoop, and drink, and so fare on, | 8 | ········ |
| Unpausing, but re-nerved in strength | 8 | ········ |
| From hour to hour, until at length | 8 | ·/·/···· |
| Night falleth, and the day is done. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The birds sip of the wayside rill, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| And raise their heads in praises, still | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Upborne upon their flashing wings; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So drinking thus along the way, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Our little meed of thanks we pay | 8 | //˘····· |
| To Him who fills the water-springs, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And deals with equal tenderness | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| The larger mercies and the less: | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| “O Lord, of good the fountain free, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Close by our hard day’s journeying | 9 | ··/˘··/˘˘ |
| Be thou the all-sufficing spring, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| And hourly let us drink of thee.” | 8 | ·/˘····· |
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.