Invocation
As pools beneath stone arches takeDarkly within their deeps againShapes of the flowing stone, and makeStories anew of passing men,
So let the living thoughts that keep,Morning and evening, in their kind,Eternal change in height and deep,Be mirrored in my happy mind.
Beat, world, upon this heart, be loudYour marvel chanted in my blood,Come forth, O sun, through cloud on cloudTo shine upon my stubborn mood.
Great hills that fold above the sea,Ecstatic airs and sparkling skies,Sing out your words to master me,Make me immoderately wise.
About this text
Invocation 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, Invocation, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/invocation.html, id L23025.
Form and metre
Invocation is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 ABAB takeA · againB · makeA · menB
- 2 ABAB keepA · kindB · deepA · mindB
- 3 A-A- loudA · blood · cloudA · mood
- 4 ABAB seaA · skiesB · meA · wiseB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As pools beneath stone arches take | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Darkly within their deeps again | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| Shapes of the flowing stone, and make | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Stories anew of passing men, | 8 | /˘˘/·/˘· |
| So let the living thoughts that keep, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Morning and evening, in their kind, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Eternal change in height and deep, | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Be mirrored in my happy mind. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Beat, world, upon this heart, be loud | 8 | ········ |
| Your marvel chanted in my blood, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Come forth, O sun, through cloud on cloud | 8 | ········ |
| To shine upon my stubborn mood. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Great hills that fold above the sea, | 8 | ········ |
| Ecstatic airs and sparkling skies, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Sing out your words to master me, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Make me immoderately wise. | 8 | ··˘/˘˘˘· |
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.