Character
If one should tell you that in such a springThe hawthorn boughs into the blackbird’s nestPoured poison, or that once at harvestingThe ears were stony, from so manifestSlander of proven faith in tree and cornYou would turn unheeding, knowing him forsworn.
Yet now, when one whose life has never knownCorruption, as you know: whose days have beenAs daily tidings in your heart of loneAnd gentle courage, suffers the word uncleanOf envious tongues, doubting you dare not cry--“I have been this man’s familiar, and you lie.”
Words in this poem
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Character is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, 1908-1919, Project Gutenberg ebook #51575; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Drinkwater, Character, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/character.html, id L23133.
Form and metre
Character is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABABCC springA · nestB · harvestingA · manifestB · cornC · forswornC
- 2 A-A-BB knownA · been · loneA · unclean · cryB · lieB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| If one should tell you that in such a spring | 10 | ·········· |
| The hawthorn boughs into the blackbird’s nest | 10 | ·/·····/˘· |
| Poured poison, or that once at harvesting | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| The ears were stony, from so manifest | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Slander of proven faith in tree and corn | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| You would turn unheeding, knowing him forsworn. | 10 | ······/··/ |
| Yet now, when one whose life has never known | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Corruption, as you know: whose days have been | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| As daily tidings in your heart of lone | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And gentle courage, suffers the word unclean | 11 | ·/˘/˘/˘··˘/ |
| Of envious tongues, doubting you dare not cry-- | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| “I have been this man’s familiar, and you lie.” | 11 | ·····˘/˘··· |
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.