Laurel · John Drinkwater · Poems, 1908-1919

Of Greatham (To Those Who Live There)

John Drinkwater (1882–1937) · 1919

iambic pentameter · ABAB · 32 lines · from Poems, 1908-1919

For peace, than knowledge more desirableInto your Sussex quietness I came,When summer’s green and gold and azure fellOver the world in flame.

And peace upon your pasture-lands I found,Where grazing flocks drift on continually,As little clouds that travel with no soundAcross a windless sky.

Out of your oaks the birds call to their matesThat brood among the pines, where hidden deepFrom curious eyes a world’s adventure waitsIn columned choirs of sleep.

Under the calm ascension of the nightWe heard the mellow lapsing and returnOf night-owls purring in their groundling flightThrough lanes of darkling fern.

Unbroken peace when all the stars were drawnBack to their lairs of light, and ranked alongFrom shire to shire the downs out of the dawnWere risen in golden song.

I sing of peace who have known the large unrestOf men bewildered in their travelling,And I have known the bridal earth unblestBy the brigades of spring.

I have known that loss. And now the broken thoughtOf nations marketing in death I know,The very winds to threnodies are wroughtThat on your downlands blow.

I sing of peace. Was it but yesterdayI came among your roses and your corn?Then momently amid this wrath I prayFor yesterday reborn.

Words in this poem

windless a.: Having no wind; calm.
curious a.: Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
columned a.: Having columns.
ascension n.: The act of ascending; a rising; ascent. [F. ascension, L. ascensio, fr. ascendere. See Ascend.]
groundling n.: A fish that keeps at the bottom of the water, as the loach. [Ground + -ling.]
darkling a.: Becoming dark or gloomy; frowing.
unrest n.: Want of rest or repose; unquietness; sleeplessness; uneasiness; disquietude.
unblest a.: Not blest; excluded from benediction; hence, accursed; wretched. [Pref. un- not + blessed, blest.]
marketing n.: The act of selling or of purchasing in, or as in, a market.
amid prep.: In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Of Greatham (To Those Who Live There) 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, Of Greatham (To Those Who Live There), in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/of-greatham-to-those-who-live-there.html, id L23098.

Form and metre

Of Greatham (To Those Who Live There) is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 7 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).

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 desirable^A · came^B · fell^A · flame^B
2 A-A- found^A · continually · sound^A · sky
3 ABAB mates^A · deep^B · waits^A · sleep^B
4 ABAB night^A · return^B · flight^A · fern^B
5 ABAB drawn^A · along^B · dawn^A · song^B
6 ABAB unrest^A · travelling^B · unblest^A · spring^B
7 ABAB thought^A · know^B · wrought^A · blow^B
8 ABAB yesterday^A · corn^B · pray^A · reborn^B

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
For peace, than knowledge more desirable	10	···/˘·˘/˘˘
Into your Sussex quietness I came,	10	···/˘/˘˘··
When summer’s green and gold and azure fell	10	·/˘····/˘·
Over the world in flame.	6	······
And peace upon your pasture-lands I found,	10	·····/˘···
Where grazing flocks drift on continually,	11	·/˘···˘/˘˘˘
As little clouds that travel with no sound	10	·/˘··/˘···
Across a windless sky.	6	˘/·/˘·
Out of your oaks the birds call to their mates	10	··········
That brood among the pines, where hidden deep	10	·······/˘·
From curious eyes a world’s adventure waits	10	·/˘···˘/˘·
In columned choirs of sleep.	6	·/˘···
Under the calm ascension of the night	10	····˘/˘···
We heard the mellow lapsing and return	10	···/˘/˘·˘/
Of night-owls purring in their groundling flight	10	···/˘··/˘·
Through lanes of darkling fern.	6	···/˘·
Unbroken peace when all the stars were drawn	10	˘/˘·······
Back to their lairs of light, and ranked along	10	········˘/
From shire to shire the downs out of the dawn	10	··········
Were risen in golden song.	7	·/˘·/˘·
I sing of peace who have known the large unrest	11	·········˘/
Of men bewildered in their travelling,	10	··˘/˘··/˘˘
And I have known the bridal earth unblest	10	·····/˘···
By the brigades of spring.	6	··˘/··
I have known that loss. And now the broken thought	11	········/˘·
Of nations marketing in death I know,	10	·/˘/˘˘····
The very winds to threnodies are wrought	9	·/˘······
That on your downlands blow.	6	······
I sing of peace. Was it but yesterday	10	·······/˘·
I came among your roses and your corn?	10	·····/˘···
Then momently amid this wrath I pray	10	·/˘˘˘/····
For yesterday reborn.	6	·/˘·//

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