The Craftsmen
Confederate hand and eyeWork to the chisel’s blade,Setting the grain aglowOf porch and sturdy beam--So the strange gods may plyStrict arms till we are madeQuick as the gods who knowWhat builds behind this dream.
Words in this poem
- aglow adv.
- In a glow; glowing; as, cheeks aglow; the landscape all aglow. [Pref. a- + glow.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Craftsmen 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, The Craftsmen, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/the-craftsmen.html, id L23028.
Form and metre
The Craftsmen is 8 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABCDABCD. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 ABCDABCD eyeA · bladeB · aglowC · beamD · plyA · madeB · knowC · dreamD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Confederate hand and eye | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| Work to the chisel’s blade, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Setting the grain aglow | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| Of porch and sturdy beam-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| So the strange gods may ply | 6 | ······ |
| Strict arms till we are made | 6 | ······ |
| Quick as the gods who know | 6 | ······ |
| What builds behind this dream. | 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.