On a Lake
Sweet in the rushesThe reed-singers makeA music that hushesThe life of the lake;The leaves are dumb,And the tides are still,And no calls comeFrom the flocks on the hill.
Forgotten nowAre nightingales,And on his boughThe linnet fails,--Midway the mereMy mirrored boatShall rest and hearA slenderer note.
Though, heart, you measureBut one proud rhyme,You build a treasureConfounding time--Sweet in the rushesThe reed-singers makeA music that hushesThe life of the lake.
Words in this poem
- midway n.
- The middle of the way or distance; a middle way or course.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On a Lake 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, On a Lake, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/on-a-lake.html, id L23106.
Form and metre
On a Lake is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABABCDCD rushesA · makeB · hushesA · lakeB · dumbC · stillD · comeC · hillD
- 2 ABABCDCD nowA · nightingalesB · boughA · failsB · mereC · boatD · hearC · noteD
- 3 ABABCDCD measureA · rhymeB · treasureA · timeB · rushesC · makeD · hushesC · lakeD
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Sweet in the rushes | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The reed-singers make | 5 | ··/˘· |
| A music that hushes | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| The life of the lake; | 5 | ····· |
| The leaves are dumb, | 4 | ···· |
| And the tides are still, | 5 | ····· |
| And no calls come | 4 | ···· |
| From the flocks on the hill. | 6 | ······ |
| Forgotten now | 4 | ˘/˘· |
| Are nightingales, | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| And on his bough | 4 | ···· |
| The linnet fails,-- | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Midway the mere | 4 | /··· |
| My mirrored boat | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Shall rest and hear | 4 | ···· |
| A slenderer note. | 5 | ····· |
| Though, heart, you measure | 5 | ···/˘ |
| But one proud rhyme, | 4 | ···· |
| You build a treasure | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Confounding time-- | 4 | ˘/˘· |
| Sweet in the rushes | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The reed-singers make | 5 | ··/˘· |
| A music that hushes | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| The life of the lake. | 5 | ····· |
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.