The Old House
A very, very old house I know-And ever so many people go,Past the small lodge, forlorn and still,Under the heavy branches, tillComes the blank wall, and there's the door.Go in they do; come out no more.No voice says aught; no spark of lightAcross that threshold cheers the sight;Only the evening star on highLess lonely makes a lonely sky,As, one by one, the people goInto that very old house I know.
Words in this poem
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Old House 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, The Old House, in Peacock Pie (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3753, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-peacock-pie/the-old-house.html, id L12603.
Form and metre
The Old House is 12 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEEAA knowA · goA · stillB · tillB · doorC · moreC · lightD · sightD · highE · skyE · goA · knowA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A very, very old house I know- | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| And ever so many people go, | 8 | ·/·/˘/˘· |
| Past the small lodge, forlorn and still, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Under the heavy branches, till | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Comes the blank wall, and there's the door. | 8 | ········ |
| Go in they do; come out no more. | 8 | ········ |
| No voice says aught; no spark of light | 8 | ········ |
| Across that threshold cheers the sight; | 8 | ˘/·/···· |
| Only the evening star on high | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Less lonely makes a lonely sky, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| As, one by one, the people go | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Into that very old house I know. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
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.