Influence
COUCHED in the rocky lap of hills,The lake’s blue waters gleam,And thence in linked and measured rillsDown to the valley stream,To rise again, led higher and higher,And slake the city’s hot desire.
High as the lake’s bright ripples shine,So high the water goes,But not a drop that air-drawn linePasses or overflows;Though man may strive and man may woo,The stream to its own law is true.
Vainly the lonely tarn its cupHolds to the feeding skies;Unless the source be lifted up,The streamlet cannot rise:By law inexorably blent,Each is the other’s measurement.
Ah, lonely tarn! ah, striving rill!So yearn these souls of ours,And beat with sad and urgent willAgainst the unheeding powers.In vain is longing, vain is force;No stream goes higher than its source.
Words in this poem
- tarn n.
- A mountain lake or pool. [OE. terne, Icel. tjörn.]
- streamlet n.
- A small stream; a rivulet; a rill.
- inexorably adv.
- In an inexorable manner; inflexibly.
- blent p. p.
- Blinded. Also (Chaucer), 3d sing. pres. Blindeth.
- 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]
- yearn v. t.
- To pain; to grieve; to vex. [Also earn, ern; probably a corruption of OE. ermen to grieve, AS. ierman, yrman, or geierman, geyrman, fr. earm wretched, poor; akin to D. & G. arm, Icel. armr,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Influence 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, Influence, in A Few More Verses (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49518, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coolidge-few-more-verses/influence.html, id L23420.
Form and metre
Influence is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 ABABCC hillsA · gleamB · rillsA · streamB · higherC · desireC
- 2 ABABCC shineA · goesB · lineA · overflowsB · wooC · trueC
- 3 ABABCC cupA · skiesB · upA · riseB · blentC · measurementC
- 4 ABABCC rillA · oursB · willA · powersB · forceC · sourceC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| COUCHED in the rocky lap of hills, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The lake’s blue waters gleam, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And thence in linked and measured rills | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Down to the valley stream, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| To rise again, led higher and higher, | 9 | ··˘/·/·/˘ |
| And slake the city’s hot desire. | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| High as the lake’s bright ripples shine, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So high the water goes, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But not a drop that air-drawn line | 8 | ········ |
| Passes or overflows; | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Though man may strive and man may woo, | 8 | ········ |
| The stream to its own law is true. | 8 | ········ |
| Vainly the lonely tarn its cup | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Holds to the feeding skies; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Unless the source be lifted up, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The streamlet cannot rise: | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| By law inexorably blent, | 8 | ··˘/˘˘˘· |
| Each is the other’s measurement. | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Ah, lonely tarn! ah, striving rill! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| So yearn these souls of ours, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And beat with sad and urgent will | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Against the unheeding powers. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In vain is longing, vain is force; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| No stream goes higher than its source. | 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.