Martha
'Once ... once upon a time ...'Over and over again,Martha would tell us her stories,In the hazel glen.
Hers were those clear grey eyesYou watch, and the story seemsTold by their beautifulnessTranquil as dreams.
She'd sit with her two slim handsClasped round her bended knees;While we on our elbows lolled,And stared at ease.
Her voice and her narrow chin,Her grave small lovely head,Seemed half the meaningOf the words she said.
'Once ... once upon a time ...'Like a dream you dream in the night,Fairies and gnomes stole outIn the leaf-green light.
And her beauty far awayWould fade, as her voice ran on,Till hazel and summer sunAnd all were gone:--
All fordone and forgot;And like clouds in the height of the sky,Our hearts stood still in the hushOf an age gone by.
Words in this poem
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- fordone a.
- Undone; ruined. [See Fordo.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Martha 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, Martha, in The Listeners and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22569, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-listeners/martha.html, id L17068.
Form and metre
Martha is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is short measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 32% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in short measure.
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 -A-A time · againA · stories · glenA
- 2 -A-A eyes · seemsA · beautifulness · dreamsA
- 3 -A-A hands · kneesA · lolled · easeA
- 4 -A-A chin · headA · meaning · saidA
- 5 -A-A time · nightA · out · lightA
- 6 -A-A away · onA · sun · goneA
- 7 -A-A forgot · skyA · hush · byA
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 short measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| 'Once ... once upon a time ...' | 6 | ······ |
| Over and over again, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Martha would tell us her stories, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| In the hazel glen. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Hers were those clear grey eyes | 6 | ······ |
| You watch, and the story seems | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Told by their beautifulness | 7 | ······· |
| Tranquil as dreams. | 4 | /˘·· |
| She'd sit with her two slim hands | 7 | ······· |
| Clasped round her bended knees; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| While we on our elbows lolled, | 7 | ···//·· |
| And stared at ease. | 5 | ··˘·· |
| Her voice and her narrow chin, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Her grave small lovely head, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Seemed half the meaning | 6 | ·˘··/˘ |
| Of the words she said. | 5 | ····· |
| 'Once ... once upon a time ...' | 6 | ······ |
| Like a dream you dream in the night, | 8 | ········ |
| Fairies and gnomes stole out | 6 | /˘···· |
| In the leaf-green light. | 5 | ····· |
| And her beauty far away | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Would fade, as her voice ran on, | 7 | ······· |
| Till hazel and summer sun | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| And all were gone:-- | 4 | ···· |
| All fordone and forgot; | 6 | ·˘/·˘/ |
| And like clouds in the height of the sky, | 9 | ········· |
| Our hearts stood still in the hush | 7 | /······ |
| Of an age gone by. | 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.