All That's Past
Very old are the woods;And the buds that breakOut of the briar's boughs,When March winds wake,So old with their beauty are--Oh, no man knowsThrough what wild centuriesRoves back the rose.
Very old are the brooks;And the rills that riseWhere snow sleeps cold beneathThe azure skiesSing such a historyOf come and gone,Their every drop is as wiseAs Solomon.
Very old are we men;Our dreams are talesTold in dim EdenBy Eve's nightingales;We wake and whisper awhile,But, the day gone by,Silence and sleep like fieldsOf amaranth lie.
Words in this poem
- solomon n.
- One of the kings of Israel, noted for his superior wisdom and magnificent reign; hence, a very wise man.
- eden n.
- The garden where Adam and Eve first dwelt; hence, a delightful region or residence. [Heb. eden delight, pleasure; also, a place of pleasure, Eden.]
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- amaranth n.
- An imaginary flower supposed never to fade.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
All That's Past is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Listeners and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #22569; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Walter de la Mare, All That's Past, in The Listeners and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22569, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-listeners/all-that-s-past.html, id L17090.
Form and metre
All That's Past is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 73%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.3 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 46% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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 -ABA-CBC woods · breakA · boughsB · wakeA · are · knowsC · centuriesB · roseC
- 2 -A-A-BAB brooks · riseA · beneath · skiesA · history · goneB · wiseA · solomonB
- 3 ABAB-C-C menA · talesB · edenA · nightingalesB · awhile · byC · fields · lieC
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 trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Very old are the woods; | 6 | /˘···· |
| And the buds that break | 5 | ····· |
| Out of the briar's boughs, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| When March winds wake, | 4 | ···· |
| So old with their beauty are-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Oh, no man knows | 4 | ···· |
| Through what wild centuries | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Roves back the rose. | 4 | ···· |
| Very old are the brooks; | 6 | /˘···· |
| And the rills that rise | 5 | ····· |
| Where snow sleeps cold beneath | 6 | ······ |
| The azure skies | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Sing such a history | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Of come and gone, | 4 | ···· |
| Their every drop is as wise | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| As Solomon. | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| Very old are we men; | 6 | /˘···· |
| Our dreams are tales | 5 | /˘··· |
| Told in dim Eden | 5 | ···/˘ |
| By Eve's nightingales; | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
| We wake and whisper awhile, | 7 | ···/˘˘/ |
| But, the day gone by, | 5 | ····· |
| Silence and sleep like fields | 6 | /˘···· |
| Of amaranth lie. | 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.