Rachel
Rachel sings sweet--Oh yes, at night,Her pale face bentIn the candle-light,Her slim hands touchThe answering keys,And she sings of hopeAnd of memories:Sings to the littleBoy that standsWatching those slim,Light, heedful hands.He looks in her face;Her dark eyes seemDark with a beautifulDistant dream;And still she plays,Sings tenderlyTo him of hope,And of memory.
Words in this poem
- tenderly adv.
- In a tender manner; with tenderness; mildly; gently; softly; in a manner not to injure or give pain; with pity or affection; kindly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Rachel 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, Rachel, in The Listeners and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22569, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-listeners/rachel.html, id L17071.
Form and metre
Rachel is 20 lines in a single stanza. The metre is trochaic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 4.3 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 40% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic dimeter.
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-BCB-D-D-E-E--C- sweet · nightA · bent · lightA · touch · keysB · hopeC · memoriesB · little · standsD · slim · handsD · face · seemE · beautiful · dreamE · plays · tenderly · hopeC · memory
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Rachel sings sweet-- | 4 | /˘·· |
| Oh yes, at night, | 4 | ···· |
| Her pale face bent | 4 | ···· |
| In the candle-light, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Her slim hands touch | 4 | ···· |
| The answering keys, | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| And she sings of hope | 5 | ····· |
| And of memories: | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
| Sings to the little | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Boy that stands | 3 | ··· |
| Watching those slim, | 4 | /˘·· |
| Light, heedful hands. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| He looks in her face; | 5 | ····· |
| Her dark eyes seem | 4 | ···· |
| Dark with a beautiful | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Distant dream; | 3 | /˘· |
| And still she plays, | 4 | ···· |
| Sings tenderly | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| To him of hope, | 4 | ···· |
| And of memory. | 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.