Laurel · Walter de la Mare · The Listeners and Other Poems

The Dark Chateau

Walter de la Mare (1873–1956) · 1912

iambic trimeter · 40 lines · from The Listeners and Other Poems

In dreams a dark châteauStands ever open to me,In far ravines dream-waters flow,Descending soundlessly;Above its peaks the eagle floats,Lone in a sunless sky;Mute are the golden woodland throatsOf the birds flitting by.

No voice is audible. The windSleeps in its peace.No flower of the light can findRefuge 'neath its trees;Only the darkening ivy climbsMingled with wilding rose,And cypress, morn and evening, time'sBlack shadow throws.

All vacant, and unknown;Only the dreamer stepsFrom stone to hollow stone,Where the green moss sleeps,Peers at the river in its deeps,The eagle lone in the sky,While the dew of evening drips,Coldly and silently.

Would that I could press in!--Into each secret room;Would that my sleep-bright eyes could winTo the inner gloom;Gaze from its high windows,Far down its mouldering walls,Where amber-clear still Lethe flows,And foaming falls.

But ever as I gaze,From slumber soft doth comeSome touch my stagnant sense to raiseTo its old earthly home;Fades then that sky serene;And peak of ageless snow;Fades to a paling dawn-lit green,My dark château.

Words in this poem

lone n.: A lane. See Loanin.
sunless a.: Destitute or deprived of the sun or its rays; shaded; shadowed.
flitting n.: A flying with lightness and celerity; a fluttering.
wilding a.: Not tame, domesticated, or cultivated; wild.
morn n.: The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
dreamer n.: One who dreams.
coldly adv.: In a cold manner; without warmth, animation, or feeling; with indifference; calmly.
lethe n.: A river of Hades whose waters when drunk caused forgetfulness of the past.
ageless a.: Without old age limits of duration; as, fountains of ageless youth.
paling n.: Pales, in general; a fence formed with pales or pickets; a limit; an inclosure.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

The Dark Chateau 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, The Dark Chateau, in The Listeners and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22569, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-listeners/the-dark-chateau.html, id L17100.

Form and metre

The Dark Chateau is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, in 2 of the 5 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.3 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See 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 ABA-CBCB château^A · me^B · flow^A · soundlessly · floats^C · sky^B · throats^C · by^B
2 A-A-BCBC wind^A · peace · find^A · trees · climbs^B · rose^C · time's^B · throws^C
3 A-A----- unknown^A · steps · stone^A · sleeps · deeps · sky · drips · silently
4 ABABCDCD in^A · room^B · win^A · gloom^B · windows^C · walls^D · flows^C · falls^D
5 ABABCDCD gaze^A · come^B · raise^A · home^B · serene^C · snow^D · green^C · château^D

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
In dreams a dark château	6	······
Stands ever open to me,	6	·//˘··
In far ravines dream-waters flow,	8	··˘/·/˘·
Descending soundlessly;	6	˘/˘···
Above its peaks the eagle floats,	8	·····/˘·
Lone in a sunless sky;	6	···/˘·
Mute are the golden woodland throats	8	···/˘/··
Of the birds flitting by.	6	···/˘·
No voice is audible. The wind	7	···/˘··
Sleeps in its peace.	4	····
No flower of the light can find	7	·/·····
Refuge 'neath its trees;	5	/˘···
Only the darkening ivy climbs	8	/˘·/˘/˘·
Mingled with wilding rose,	6	/˘·/˘·
And cypress, morn and evening, time's	8	·/˘··/˘·
Black shadow throws.	4	·/··
All vacant, and unknown;	6	·/˘·˘/
Only the dreamer steps	6	/˘·/˘·
From stone to hollow stone,	6	···/˘·
Where the green moss sleeps,	5	·····
Peers at the river in its deeps,	8	···/˘···
The eagle lone in the sky,	7	·/˘····
While the dew of evening drips,	7	····/˘·
Coldly and silently.	6	/˘·/˘˘
Would that I could press in!--	6	······
Into each secret room;	6	···/˘·
Would that my sleep-bright eyes could win	8	········
To the inner gloom;	5	··/˘·
Gaze from its high windows,	6	····/˘
Far down its mouldering walls,	6	···/˘·
Where amber-clear still Lethe flows,	8	·/˘··/˘·
And foaming falls.	4	·/˘·
But ever as I gaze,	6	·/˘···
From slumber soft doth come	6	·/˘···
Some touch my stagnant sense to raise	8	···/˘···
To its old earthly home;	6	···/˘·
Fades then that sky serene;	6	····˘/
And peak of ageless snow;	6	···/˘·
Fades to a paling dawn-lit green,	8	···/˘···
My dark château.	4	····

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.

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