Reciprocity
I do not think that skies and meadows areMoral, or that the fixture of a starComes of a quiet spirit, or that treesHave wisdom in their windless silences.Yet these are things invested in my moodWith constancy, and peace, and fortitude,That in my troubled season I can cryUpon the wide composure of the sky,And envy fields, and wish that I might beAs little daunted as a star or tree.
Words in this poem
- windless a.
- Having no wind; calm.
- fortitude n.
- Power to resist attack; strength; firmness. [L. fortitudo, fr. fortis strong. See Fort.]
- composure n.
- The act of composing, or that which is composed; a composition. [From Compose.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Reciprocity 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, Reciprocity, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/reciprocity.html, id L23004.
Form and metre
Reciprocity is 10 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEE areA · starA · treesB · silencesB · moodC · fortitudeC · cryD · skyD · beE · treeE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I do not think that skies and meadows are | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Moral, or that the fixture of a star | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Comes of a quiet spirit, or that trees | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Have wisdom in their windless silences. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| Yet these are things invested in my mood | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| With constancy, and peace, and fortitude, | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| That in my troubled season I can cry | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Upon the wide composure of the sky, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| And envy fields, and wish that I might be | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| As little daunted as a star or tree. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
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.