The Stranger
Half-hidden in a graveyard,In the blackness of a yew,Where never living creature stirs,Nor sunbeam pierces through,
Is a tombstone green and crooked,Its faded legend gone,And but one rain-worn cherub's headTo sing of the unknown.
There, when the dusk is falling,Silence broods so deepIt seems that every wind that breathesBlows from the fields of sleep?
Day breaks in heedless beauty,Kindling each drop of dew,But unforsaking shadow dwellsBeneath this lonely yew.
And, all else lost and faded,Only this listening headKeeps with a strange unanswering smileIts secret with the dead.
Words in this poem
- graveyard n.
- A yard or inclosure for the interment of the dead; a cemetery.
- sunbeam n.
- A beam or ray of the sun. [AS. sunnebeam.]
- tombstone n.
- A stone erected over a grave, to preserve the memory of the deceased.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Stranger 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 Stranger, in The Listeners and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22569, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-listeners/the-stranger.html, id L17093.
Form and metre
The Stranger is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% 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 graveyard · yewA · stirs · throughA
- 2 A-A- crookedA · gone · headA · unknown
- 3 -A-A falling · deepA · breathes · sleepA
- 4 -A-A beauty · dewA · dwells · yewA
- 5 AA-A fadedA · headA · smile · deadA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Half-hidden in a graveyard, | 7 | ·/˘··/· |
| In the blackness of a yew, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Where never living creature stirs, | 7 | ·//˘/˘· |
| Nor sunbeam pierces through, | 6 | ·/·/˘· |
| Is a tombstone green and crooked, | 8 | ··/···/˘ |
| Its faded legend gone, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And but one rain-worn cherub's head | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To sing of the unknown. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| There, when the dusk is falling, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Silence broods so deep | 5 | /˘··· |
| It seems that every wind that breathes | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Blows from the fields of sleep? | 6 | ······ |
| Day breaks in heedless beauty, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Kindling each drop of dew, | 6 | /˘···· |
| But unforsaking shadow dwells | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Beneath this lonely yew. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And, all else lost and faded, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Only this listening head | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Keeps with a strange unanswering smile | 9 | ········· |
| Its secret with the dead. | 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.