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

The Witch

Walter de la Mare (1873–1956) · 1912

common measure · 44 lines · from The Listeners and Other Poems

Weary went the old Witch,Weary of her pack,She sat her down by the churchyard wall,And jerked it off her back.

The cord brake, yes, the cord brake,Just where the dead did lie,And Charms and Spells and SorceriesSpilled out beneath the sky.

Weary was the old Witch;She rested her old eyesFrom the lantern-fruited yew trees,And the scarlet of the skies;

And out the dead came stumbling,From every rift and crack,Silent as moss, and plunderedThe gaping pack.

They wish them, three times over,Away they skip full soon:Bat and Mole and Leveret,Under the rising moon;

Owl and Newt and Nightjar:They take their shapes and creep,Silent as churchyard lichen,While she squats asleep.

All of these dead were stirring:Each unto each did call,'A Witch, a Witch is sleepingUnder the churchyard wall;

'A Witch, a Witch is sleeping....'The shrillness ebbed away;And up the way-worn moon clomb bright,Hard on the track of day.

She shone, high, wan and silvery;Day's colours paled and died:And, save the mute and creeping worm,Nought else was there beside.

Names may be writ; and mounds rise;Purporting, Here be bones:But empty is that churchyardOf all save stones.

Owl and Newt and Nightjar,Leveret, Bat and MoleHaunt and call in the twilight,Where she slept, poor soul.

Words in this poem

went n.: Course; way; path; journey; direction.
churchyard n.: The ground adjoining a church, in which the dead are buried; a cemetery.
leveret n.: A hare in the first year of its age. [F. levraut, dim. of lièvre hare, L. lepus. Cf. Leporine.]
nightjar n.: A goatsucker, esp. the European species. See Illust. of Goatsucker.
shrillness n.: The quality or state of being shrill.

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

About this text

The Witch 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 Witch, in The Listeners and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22569, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-listeners/the-witch.html, id L17095.

Form and metre

The Witch is 44 lines in 11 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.4 syllables. 11 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% 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 witch · pack^A · wall · back^A
2 -A-A brake · lie^A · sorceries · sky^A
3 -A-A witch · eyes^A · trees · skies^A
4 -A-A stumbling · crack^A · plundered · pack^A
5 -A-A over · soon^A · leveret · moon^A
6 -A-A nightjar · creep^A · lichen · asleep^A
7 -A-A stirring · call^A · sleeping · wall^A
8 -A-A sleeping · away^A · bright · day^A
9 -A-A silvery · died^A · worm · beside^A
10 -A-A rise · bones^A · churchyard · stones^A
11 -A-A nightjar · mole^A · twilight · soul^A

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
Weary went the old Witch,	6	/˘····
Weary of her pack,	5	/˘···
She sat her down by the churchyard wall,	9	······/··
And jerked it off her back.	6	······
The cord brake, yes, the cord brake,	7	·······
Just where the dead did lie,	6	······
And Charms and Spells and Sorceries	7	·····/˘
Spilled out beneath the sky.	6	······
Weary was the old Witch;	6	/˘····
She rested her old eyes	6	·/˘···
From the lantern-fruited yew trees,	8	··/˘/˘··
And the scarlet of the skies;	7	··/˘···
And out the dead came stumbling,	7	·····/˘
From every rift and crack,	6	·/˘···
Silent as moss, and plundered	7	/˘···/˘
The gaping pack.	4	·/˘·
They wish them, three times over,	6	······
Away they skip full soon:	6	˘/····
Bat and Mole and Leveret,	7	····/˘˘
Under the rising moon;	6	···/˘·
Owl and Newt and Nightjar:	6	····/˘
They take their shapes and creep,	6	······
Silent as churchyard lichen,	7	/˘·/·/˘
While she squats asleep.	5	···˘/
All of these dead were stirring:	7	·····/˘
Each unto each did call,	6	······
'A Witch, a Witch is sleeping	7	·····/˘
Under the churchyard wall;	6	···/··
'A Witch, a Witch is sleeping....'	7	·····/˘
The shrillness ebbed away;	7	·/˘/˘˘/
And up the way-worn moon clomb bright,	8	········
Hard on the track of day.	6	······
She shone, high, wan and silvery;	7	·····/˘
Day's colours paled and died:	6	·/˘···
And, save the mute and creeping worm,	8	·····/˘·
Nought else was there beside.	6	····˘/
Names may be writ; and mounds rise;	7	·······
Purporting, Here be bones:	6	˘/˘···
But empty is that churchyard	7	·/˘··/·
Of all save stones.	4	····
Owl and Newt and Nightjar,	6	····/˘
Leveret, Bat and Mole	6	/˘˘···
Haunt and call in the twilight,	7	·····/·
Where she slept, poor soul.	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.

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