The Scarecrow
All winter through I bow my headBeneath the driving rain;The North wind powders me with snowAnd blows me black again;At midnight 'neath a maze of starsI flame with glittering rime,And stand, above the stubble, stiffAs mail at morning-prime.But when that child, called Spring, and allHis host of children, come,Scattering their buds and dew uponThose acres of my home,Some rapture in my rags awakes;I lift void eyes and scanThe skies for crows, those ravening foes,Of my strange master, Man.I watch him striding lank behindHis clashing team, and knowSoon will the wheat swish body highWhere once lay sterile snow;Soon shall I gaze across a seaOf sun-begotten grain,Which my unflinching watch hath sealedFor harvest once again.
Words in this poem
- maze n.
- A wild fancy; a confused notion. [OE. mase; cf. OE. masen to confuse, puzzle, Norweg. masast to fall into a slumber, masa to be continually busy, prate, chatter, Icel. masa to chatter, dial. Sw.]
- rime n.
- A rent or long aperture; a chink; a fissure; a crack. Sir T. [L. rima.]
- scan v. t.
- To mount by steps; to go through with step by step. [L. scandere, scansum, to climb, to scan, akin to Skr. skand to spring, leap: cf. F. scander. Cf. Ascend, Descend, Scale a ladder.]
- ravening n.
- Eagerness for plunder; rapacity; extortion. Luke xi. 39.
- swish v. t.
- To flourish, so as to make the sound swish. Coleridge. [From the sound. Cf. Swash.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- unflinching a.
- Not flinching or shrinking; unyielding.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Scarecrow 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 Scarecrow, in The Listeners and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22569, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-listeners/the-scarecrow.html, id L17074.
Form and metre
The Scarecrow is 24 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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-C-C-D-D-E-E-BFBFA-A head · rainA · snowB · againA · stars · rimeC · stiff · primeC · all · comeD · upon · homeD · awakes · scanE · foes · manE · behind · knowB · highF · snowB · seaF · grainA · sealed · 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 iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| All winter through I bow my head | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Beneath the driving rain; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The North wind powders me with snow | 7 | ···/··· |
| And blows me black again; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| At midnight 'neath a maze of stars | 8 | ·/······ |
| I flame with glittering rime, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And stand, above the stubble, stiff | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| As mail at morning-prime. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But when that child, called Spring, and all | 8 | ········ |
| His host of children, come, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Scattering their buds and dew upon | 8 | /˘······ |
| Those acres of my home, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Some rapture in my rags awakes; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| I lift void eyes and scan | 6 | ······ |
| The skies for crows, those ravening foes, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of my strange master, Man. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I watch him striding lank behind | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| His clashing team, and know | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Soon will the wheat swish body high | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Where once lay sterile snow; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Soon shall I gaze across a sea | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Of sun-begotten grain, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Which my unflinching watch hath sealed | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| For harvest once 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.