History
Sometimes, when walls and occupation seemA prison merely, a dark barrierBetween me everywhereAnd life, or the larger province of the mind,As dreams confined,As the trouble of a dream,I seek to make again a life long gone,To beMy mind’s approach and consolation,To give it form’s lucidity,Resilient form, as porcelain pieces thrownIn buried China by a wrist unknown,Or mirrored brigs upon Fowey sea.
Then to my memory comes nothing greatOf purpose, or debate,Or perfect end,Pomp, nor love’s rapture, nor heroic hours to spend--But most, and strangely, for long and so much have I seen,Comes back an afternoonOf a JuneSunday at Elsfield, that is up on a greenHill, and there,Through a little farm parlour door,A floorOf red tiles and blue,And the airSweet with the hot June sun cascading throughThe vine-leaves under the glass, and a scarlet fumeOf geranium flower, and soft and yellow bloomOf musk, and stains of scarlet and yellow glass.
Such are the things remainQuietly, and for ever, in the brain,And the things that they choose for history-making pass.
Words in this poem
- lucidity n.
- The quality or state of being lucid. [Cf. F. lucidité. See Lucid.]
- resilient a.
- Leaping back; rebounding; recoling. [L. resiliens, p. pr.]
- strangely adv.
- As something foreign, or not one's own; in a manner adapted to something foreign and strange.
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
- fume n.
- Exhalation; volatile matter (esp. noxious vapor or smoke) ascending in a dense body; smoke; vapor; reek; as, the fumes of tobacco. [L. fumus; akin to Skr. dh smoke, dh to shake, fan a flame, cf. Gr. fum smoke, F. fumée. Cf. Dust, n., Femerell, Thyme.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
History 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, History, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/history.html, id L23011.
Form and metre
History is 33 lines in 3 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
See 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 A--BBACDC-EED seemA · barrier · everywhere · mindB · confinedB · dreamA · goneC · beD · consolationC · lucidity · thrownE · unknownE · seaD
- 2 AABBCDDCEFFGEGHH- greatA · debateA · endB · spendB · seenC · afternoonD · juneD · greenC · thereE · doorF · floorF · blueG · airE · throughG · fumeH · bloomH · glass
- 3 AA- remainA · brainA · pass
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sometimes, when walls and occupation seem | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘· |
| A prison merely, a dark barrier | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Between me everywhere | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And life, or the larger province of the mind, | 11 | ····/˘/˘··· |
| As dreams confined, | 4 | ··˘/ |
| As the trouble of a dream, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| I seek to make again a life long gone, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| To be | 2 | ·· |
| My mind’s approach and consolation, | 9 | ··˘/··˘/˘ |
| To give it form’s lucidity, | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| Resilient form, as porcelain pieces thrown | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| In buried China by a wrist unknown, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Or mirrored brigs upon Fowey sea. | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Then to my memory comes nothing great | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| Of purpose, or debate, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Or perfect end, | 4 | ·˘/· |
| Pomp, nor love’s rapture, nor heroic hours to spend-- | 12 | ···/˘·˘/˘/·· |
| But most, and strangely, for long and so much have I seen, | 13 | ···/˘········ |
| Comes back an afternoon | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Of a June | 3 | ··· |
| Sunday at Elsfield, that is up on a green | 11 | /·········· |
| Hill, and there, | 3 | ··· |
| Through a little farm parlour door, | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| A floor | 2 | ·· |
| Of red tiles and blue, | 5 | ····· |
| And the air | 3 | ··· |
| Sweet with the hot June sun cascading through | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| The vine-leaves under the glass, and a scarlet fume | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| Of geranium flower, and soft and yellow bloom | 11 | ·˘/˘/···/˘· |
| Of musk, and stains of scarlet and yellow glass. | 11 | ·····/˘·/˘· |
| Such are the things remain | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Quietly, and for ever, in the brain, | 8 | /˘··/··· |
| And the things that they choose for history-making pass. | 12 | ·······/˘/˘· |
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.