Haunted
The rabbit in his burrow keepsNo guarded watch, in peace he sleeps;The wolf that howls into the nightCowers to her lair at morning light;The simplest bird entwines a nestWhere she may lean her lovely breast,Couched in the silence of the bough;But thou, O man, what rest hast thou?
The deepest solitude can bringOnly a subtler questioningIn thy divided heart; thy bedRecalls at dawn what midnight said;Seek how thou wilt to feign contentThy flaming ardour's quickly spent;Soon thy last company is gone,And leaves thee--with thyself--alone.
Pomp and great friends may hem thee round,A thousand busy tasks be found;Earth's thronging beauties may beguileThy longing lovesick heart awhile;And pride, like clouds of sunset, spreadA changing glory round thy head;But fade will all; and thou must come,Hating thy journey, homeless, home.
Rave how thou wilt; unmoved, remote,That inward presence slumbers not,Frets out each secret from thy breast,Gives thee no rally, pause, nor rest,Scans close thy very thoughts, lest theyShould sap his patient power away,Answers thy wrath with peace, thy cryWith tenderest taciturnity.
Words in this poem
- lair n.
- A place in which to lie or rest; especially, the bed or couch of a wild beast. [OE. leir, AS. leger; akin to D. leger, G. lager couch, lair, OHG. laga, Goth. ligrs, and to E. lie. See Lie to be prostrate, and cf. Layer, Leaguer.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- homeless a.
- Destitute of a home. [AS.hamleas.]
- unmoved a.
- Not moved; fixed; firm; unshaken; calm; apathetic.
- rally v. t.
- To collect, and reduce to order, as troops dispersed or thrown into confusion; to gather again; to reunite. [OF. ralier, F. rallier, fr. L. pref. re- + ad + ligare to bind. See Ra-, and 1st Ally.]
- taciturnity n.
- Habilual silence, or reserve in speaking. [L. taciturnitas: cf. F. taciturnité.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Haunted 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, Haunted, in The Listeners and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22569, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-listeners/haunted.html, id L17106.
Form and metre
Haunted is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABBCCDD, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.9 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 34% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AABBCCDD keepsA · sleepsA · nightB · lightB · nestC · breastC · boughD · thouD
- 2 AABBCC-- bringA · questioningA · bedB · saidB · contentC · spentC · gone · alone
- 3 AABBCCDD roundA · foundA · beguileB · awhileB · spreadC · headC · comeD · homeD
- 4 --AABB-- remote · not · breastA · restA · theyB · awayB · cry · taciturnity
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 rabbit in his burrow keeps | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| No guarded watch, in peace he sleeps; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The wolf that howls into the night | 8 | ········ |
| Cowers to her lair at morning light; | 8 | /····/˘· |
| The simplest bird entwines a nest | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Where she may lean her lovely breast, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Couched in the silence of the bough; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But thou, O man, what rest hast thou? | 8 | ········ |
| The deepest solitude can bring | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Only a subtler questioning | 7 | /˘·/˘/˘ |
| In thy divided heart; thy bed | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Recalls at dawn what midnight said; | 8 | ˘/···/·· |
| Seek how thou wilt to feign content | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Thy flaming ardour's quickly spent; | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Soon thy last company is gone, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| And leaves thee--with thyself--alone. | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| Pomp and great friends may hem thee round, | 8 | ········ |
| A thousand busy tasks be found; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Earth's thronging beauties may beguile | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Thy longing lovesick heart awhile; | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And pride, like clouds of sunset, spread | 8 | ·····/·· |
| A changing glory round thy head; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| But fade will all; and thou must come, | 8 | ········ |
| Hating thy journey, homeless, home. | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| Rave how thou wilt; unmoved, remote, | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| That inward presence slumbers not, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Frets out each secret from thy breast, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Gives thee no rally, pause, nor rest, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Scans close thy very thoughts, lest they | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Should sap his patient power away, | 8 | ···/˘/˘/ |
| Answers thy wrath with peace, thy cry | 8 | /˘······ |
| With tenderest taciturnity. | 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.