Olton Pools (To G. C. G.)
Now June walks on the waters,And the cuckoo’s last enchantmentPasses from Olton pools.
Now dawn comes to my windowBreathing midsummer roses,And scythes are wet with dew.
Is it not strange for everThat, bowered in this wonder,Man keeps a jealous heart?...
That June and the June waters,And birds and dawn-lit roses,Are gospels in the wind,
Fading upon the deserts,Poor pilgrim revelations?...Hist ... over Olton pools!
Words in this poem
- midsummer n.
- The middle of summer. Shak. Midsummer daisy (Bot.), the oxeye daisy. [AS. midsumor.]
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Olton Pools (To G. C. G.) 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, Olton Pools (To G. C. G.), in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/olton-pools-to-g-c-g.html, id L23097.
Form and metre
Olton Pools (To G. C. G.) is 15 lines in 5 stanzas of 3 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Now June walks on the waters, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And the cuckoo’s last enchantment | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Passes from Olton pools. | 6 | /˘···· |
| Now dawn comes to my window | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Breathing midsummer roses, | 7 | /˘//˘/˘ |
| And scythes are wet with dew. | 6 | ······ |
| Is it not strange for ever | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| That, bowered in this wonder, | 8 | ·/˘˘··/˘ |
| Man keeps a jealous heart?... | 6 | ···/˘· |
| That June and the June waters, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And birds and dawn-lit roses, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Are gospels in the wind, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Fading upon the deserts, | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Poor pilgrim revelations?... | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Hist ... over Olton pools! | 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.