Nod
Softly along the road of evening,In a twilight dim with rose,Wrinkled with age, and drenched with dewOld Nod, the shepherd, goes.
His drowsy flock streams on before him,Their fleeces charged with gold,To where the sun's last beam leans lowOn Nod the shepherd's fold.
The hedge is quick and green with briar,From their sand the conies creep;And all the birds that fly in heavenFlock singing home to sleep.
His lambs outnumber a noon's roses,Yet, when night's shadows fall,His blind old sheep-dog, Slumber-soon,Misses not one of all.
His are the quiet steeps of dreamland,The waters of no-more-pain,His ram's bell rings 'neath an arch of stars,'Rest, rest, and rest again.'
Words in this poem
- briar n.
- A plant with a slender woody stem bearing stout prickles; especially, species of Rosa, Rubus, and Smilax. [OE. brere, brer, AS. brer, brær; cf. Ir. briar prickle, thorn, brier, pin, Gael. preas bush, brier, W. prys, prysg.]
- outnumber v. t.
- To exceed in number.
- dreamland n.
- An unreal, delightful country such as in sometimes pictured in dreams; region of fancies; fairyland.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Nod 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, Nod, in The Listeners and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22569, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-listeners/nod.html, id L17075.
Form and metre
Nod is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 15% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common 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 evening · roseA · dew · goesA
- 2 -A-A him · goldA · low · foldA
- 3 -A-A briar · creepA · heaven · sleepA
- 4 -A-A roses · fallA · soon · allA
- 5 -A-A dreamland · painA · stars · againA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Softly along the road of evening, | 9 | /˘˘/···/˘ |
| In a twilight dim with rose, | 7 | ··/···· |
| Wrinkled with age, and drenched with dew | 8 | /˘······ |
| Old Nod, the shepherd, goes. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| His drowsy flock streams on before him, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Their fleeces charged with gold, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| To where the sun's last beam leans low | 8 | ········ |
| On Nod the shepherd's fold. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The hedge is quick and green with briar, | 8 | ·······/ |
| From their sand the conies creep; | 6 | ······ |
| And all the birds that fly in heaven | 8 | ·······/ |
| Flock singing home to sleep. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| His lambs outnumber a noon's roses, | 9 | ··˘/˘··/˘ |
| Yet, when night's shadows fall, | 6 | ···/·· |
| His blind old sheep-dog, Slumber-soon, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Misses not one of all. | 6 | /˘···· |
| His are the quiet steeps of dreamland, | 8 | ···/··/· |
| The waters of no-more-pain, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| His ram's bell rings 'neath an arch of stars, | 9 | ········· |
| 'Rest, rest, and rest again.' | 6 | ····˘/ |
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.