Sam
When Sam goes back in memory,It is to where the seaBreaks on the shingle, emerald-green,In white foam, endlessly;He says - with small brown eye on mine-'I used to keep awake,And lean from my window in the moon,Watching those billows break.And half a million tiny hands,And eyes, like sparks of frost,Would dance and come tumbling into the moon,On every breaker tossed.And all across from star to star,I've seen the watery sea,With not a single ship in sight,Just ocean there, and me;And heard my father snore. And once,As sure as I'm alive,Out of those wallowing, moon-flecked wavesI saw a mermaid dive;Head and shoulders above the wave,Plain as I now see you,Combing her hair, now back, now front,Her two eyes peeping through;Calling me, 'Sam!' -quietlike- 'Sam!'...But me .... I never went,Making believe I kind of thought'Twas some one else she meant....Wonderful lovely there she sat,Singing the night away,All in the solitudinous seaOf that there lonely bay.
P'raps,' and he'd smooth his hairless mouth,'P'raps, if 'twere now, my son,Praps, if I heard a voice say, 'Sam!'...Morning would find we gone.'
Words in this poem
- shingle n.
- Round, water-worn, and loose gravel and pebbles, or a collection of roundish stones, such as are common on the seashore and elsewhere. [Prob. from Norw. singl, singling, coarse gravel, small round stones.]
- endlessly adv.
- In an endless manner.
- breaker n.
- One who, or that which, breaks.
- snore v. i.
- To breathe with a rough, hoarse, nasal voice in sleep. [OE. snoren, AS. snora a snoring; akin to LG. snoren, snorken, snurken, to snore, D. snorken, G. schnarchen to snore, schnarren to rattle, MHG. snarren, Sw. snar]
- mermaid n.
- A fabled marine creature, typically represented as having the upper part like that of a woman, and the lower like a fish; a sea nymph, sea woman, or woman fish. [AS. mere lake, sea. See Mere lake, and maid.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- hairless a.
- Destitute of hair.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sam is in the public domain. This text is taken from Peacock Pie, a Book of Rhymes, Project Gutenberg ebook #3753; 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, Sam, in Peacock Pie (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3753, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-peacock-pie/sam.html, id L12597.
Form and metre
Sam is 36 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 11% 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 -----A-A-B-B-C-C-D-D-E-E-F-F-G-G memory · sea · green · endlessly · mine · awakeA · moon · breakA · hands · frostB · moon · tossedB · star · seaC · sight · meC · once · aliveD · waves · diveD · wave · youE · front · throughE · sam · wentF · thought · meantF · sat · awayG · sea · bayG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When Sam goes back in memory, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| It is to where the sea | 6 | ······ |
| Breaks on the shingle, emerald-green, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| In white foam, endlessly; | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| He says - with small brown eye on mine- | 8 | ········ |
| 'I used to keep awake, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| And lean from my window in the moon, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Watching those billows break. | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| And half a million tiny hands, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And eyes, like sparks of frost, | 6 | ······ |
| Would dance and come tumbling into the moon, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| On every breaker tossed. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And all across from star to star, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| I've seen the watery sea, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| With not a single ship in sight, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Just ocean there, and me; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And heard my father snore. And once, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As sure as I'm alive, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Out of those wallowing, moon-flecked waves | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I saw a mermaid dive; | 6 | ···/·· |
| Head and shoulders above the wave, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Plain as I now see you, | 6 | ······ |
| Combing her hair, now back, now front, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Her two eyes peeping through; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Calling me, 'Sam!' -quietlike- 'Sam!'... | 7 | /˘····· |
| But me .... I never went, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Making believe I kind of thought | 8 | /˘˘/···· |
| 'Twas some one else she meant.... | 6 | ······ |
| Wonderful lovely there she sat, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Singing the night away, | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| All in the solitudinous sea | 9 | ········· |
| Of that there lonely bay. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| P'raps,' and he'd smooth his hairless mouth, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'P'raps, if 'twere now, my son, | 6 | ······ |
| Praps, if I heard a voice say, 'Sam!'... | 8 | ········ |
| Morning would find we gone.' | 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.