Dusk (To E. S. V.)
We come from the laurels and daffodilsDown to the homestead under the fell,We’ve gathered our hunger upon the hills,And that is well.
Howbeit to-morrow gives or takes,And leads to barren or flowering ways,We’ve a linen cloth and wheaten cakes,For which be praise.
Here in the valley at lambing-timeThe shepherd folk of their watching tellWhile the shadows up to the beacon climb,And that is well.Let be what may when we make an endOf the laughter and labour of all our daysWe’ve men to friend and women to friend,For whom be praise.
Words in this poem
- howbeit conj.
- Be it as it may; nevertheless; notwithstanding; although; albeit; yet; but; however. [How + be + it.]
- wheaten a.
- Made of wheat; as, wheaten bread. [AS. hwæten.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dusk (To E. S. V.) 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, Dusk (To E. S. V.), in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/dusk-to-e-s-v.html, id L23079.
Form and metre
Dusk (To E. S. V.) is 16 lines in 3 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%).
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 ABAB daffodilsA · fellB · hillsA · wellB
- 2 ABAB takesA · waysB · cakesA · praiseB
- 3 ABABCDCD timeA · tellB · climbA · wellB · endC · daysD · friendC · praiseD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| We come from the laurels and daffodils | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| Down to the homestead under the fell, | 9 | ···/····· |
| We’ve gathered our hunger upon the hills, | 10 | ·/˘//˘···· |
| And that is well. | 4 | ···· |
| Howbeit to-morrow gives or takes, | 9 | ˘/˘·/˘··· |
| And leads to barren or flowering ways, | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| We’ve a linen cloth and wheaten cakes, | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| For which be praise. | 4 | ···· |
| Here in the valley at lambing-time | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| The shepherd folk of their watching tell | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| While the shadows up to the beacon climb, | 10 | ··/····/˘· |
| And that is well. | 4 | ···· |
| Let be what may when we make an end | 9 | ········· |
| Of the laughter and labour of all our days | 11 | ··/˘·/˘··/· |
| We’ve men to friend and women to friend, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| For whom be praise. | 4 | ···· |
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.