Villanelle of the Poet's Road
Wine and woman and song,Three things garnish our way:Yet is day over long.
Lest we do our youth wrong,Gather them while we may:Wine and woman and song.
Three things render us strong,Vine leaves, kisses and bay;Yet is day over long.
Unto us they belong,Us the bitter and gay,Wine and woman and song.
We, as we pass along,Are sad that they will not stay;Yet is day over long.
Fruits and flowers among,What is better than they:Wine and woman and song?Yet is day over long.
Words in this poem
- garnish v. t.
- To decorate with ornamental appendages; to set off; to adorn; to embellish. [OE. garnischen, garnissen, OF. garnir to provide, strengthen, prepare, garnish, warn, F. garnir to provide, furnish, garnish, -- of German origin; cf. OHG. warn]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Villanelle of the Poet's Road is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems and Prose of Ernest Dowson, With a Memoir by Arthur Symons, Project Gutenberg ebook #8497; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ernest Dowson, Villanelle of the Poet's Road, in The Poems of Ernest Dowson (1896–1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8497, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dowson-poems/villanelle-of-the-poet-s-road.html, id L01667.
Form and metre
Villanelle of the Poet's Road is 19 lines in 6 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABA, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.2 syllables.
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 songA · wayB · longA
- 2 ABA wrongA · mayB · songA
- 3 ABA strongA · bayB · longA
- 4 ABA belongA · gayB · songA
- 5 ABA alongA · stayB · longA
- 6 -BAA among · theyB · songA · longA
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Wine and woman and song, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Three things garnish our way: | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Yet is day over long. | 6 | ······ |
| Lest we do our youth wrong, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Gather them while we may: | 6 | /˘···· |
| Wine and woman and song. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Three things render us strong, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Vine leaves, kisses and bay; | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Yet is day over long. | 6 | ······ |
| Unto us they belong, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Us the bitter and gay, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Wine and woman and song. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| We, as we pass along, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Are sad that they will not stay; | 7 | ······· |
| Yet is day over long. | 6 | ······ |
| Fruits and flowers among, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| What is better than they: | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Wine and woman and song? | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Yet is day over long. | 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.