Cottage Song
Morning and night I bringClear water from the spring,And through the lyric noonI hear the larks in tune,And when the shadows fallThere’s providence for all.
My garden is alightWith currants red and white;And my blue curtains peepOn starry courses deep,When down her silver tidesThe moon on Cotswold rides.
My path of paven greyIs thoroughfare all dayFor fellowship, till timeBids us with candles climbThe little whitewashed stairAbove my lavender.
Words in this poem
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- thoroughfare n.
- A passage through; a passage from one street or opening to another; an unobstructed way open to the public; a public road; hence, a frequented street. [AS. þurhfaru.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Cottage Song 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, Cottage Song, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/cottage-song.html, id L23102.
Form and metre
Cottage Song is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABBCC, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 AABBCC bringA · springA · noonB · tuneB · fallC · allC
- 2 AABBCC alightA · whiteA · peepB · deepB · tidesC · ridesC
- 3 AABB-- greyA · dayA · timeB · climbB · stair · lavender
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Morning and night I bring | 6 | /˘···· |
| Clear water from the spring, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And through the lyric noon | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I hear the larks in tune, | 6 | ······ |
| And when the shadows fall | 6 | ···/·· |
| There’s providence for all. | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| My garden is alight | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| With currants red and white; | 6 | ······ |
| And my blue curtains peep | 6 | ···/˘· |
| On starry courses deep, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| When down her silver tides | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The moon on Cotswold rides. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| My path of paven grey | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Is thoroughfare all day | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| For fellowship, till time | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Bids us with candles climb | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The little whitewashed stair | 6 | ·/˘/·· |
| Above my lavender. | 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.