Silence
With changeful sound life beats upon the ear;Yet striving for releaseThe most delighting string'sSweet jargonings,The happiest throat'sMost easeful, lovely notesFall back into a veiling silentness.
Even 'mid the rumour of a moving host,Blackening the clear green earth,Vainly 'gainst that thin wallThe trumpets call,Or with loud humThe smoke-bemuffled drum:From that high quietness no reply comes forth.
When all at peace, two friends at ease aloneTalk out their hearts,--yet still,Between the grace-notes ofThe voice of loveFrom each to eachTrembles a rarer speech,And with its presence every pause doth fill.
Unmoved it broods, this all-encompassing hushOf one who stooping near,No smallest stir will makeOur fear to wake;But yet intentUpon some mystery bent,Hearkens the lightest word we say, or hear.
Words in this poem
- changeful a.
- Full of change; mutable; inconstant; fickle; uncertain.
- easeful a.
- Full of ease; suitable for affording ease or rest; quiet; comfortable; restful.
- veiling n.
- A veil; a thin covering; also, material for making veils.
- silentness n.
- State of being silent; silence.
- rumour n.
- A flying or popular report; the common talk; hence, public fame; notoriety. [F. rumeur, L. rumor; cf. rumificare, rumitare to rumor, Skr. ru to cry.]
- trumpets n.
- A plant (Sarracenia flava) with long, hollow leaves.
- unmoved a.
- Not moved; fixed; firm; unshaken; calm; apathetic.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Silence 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, Silence, in The Listeners and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22569, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-listeners/silence.html, id L17107.
Form and metre
Silence is 28 lines in 4 stanzas of 7 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.6 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 46% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in iambic 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 --AABB- ear · release · string'sA · jargoningsA · throat'sB · notesB · silentness
- 2 --AABB- host · earth · wallA · callA · humB · drumB · forth
- 3 -ABBCCA alone · stillA · ofB · loveB · eachC · speechC · fillA
- 4 -ABBCCA hush · nearA · makeB · wakeB · intentC · bentC · hearA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| With changeful sound life beats upon the ear; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Yet striving for release | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| The most delighting string's | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Sweet jargonings, | 4 | ···· |
| The happiest throat's | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| Most easeful, lovely notes | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Fall back into a veiling silentness. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Even 'mid the rumour of a moving host, | 10 | /···˘··/˘· |
| Blackening the clear green earth, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Vainly 'gainst that thin wall | 6 | /˘···· |
| The trumpets call, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Or with loud hum | 4 | ···· |
| The smoke-bemuffled drum: | 6 | ····˘· |
| From that high quietness no reply comes forth. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| When all at peace, two friends at ease alone | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Talk out their hearts,--yet still, | 6 | ······ |
| Between the grace-notes of | 6 | ······ |
| The voice of love | 4 | ···· |
| From each to each | 4 | ···· |
| Trembles a rarer speech, | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| And with its presence every pause doth fill. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Unmoved it broods, this all-encompassing hush | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘· |
| Of one who stooping near, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| No smallest stir will make | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Our fear to wake; | 5 | /˘··· |
| But yet intent | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Upon some mystery bent, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Hearkens the lightest word we say, or hear. | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
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.