The Hours
Those hours are best when suddenlyThe voices of the world are still,And in that quiet place is heardThe voice of one small singing bird,Alone within his quiet tree;
When to one field that crowns a hill,With but the sky for neighbourhood,The crowding counties of my brainGive all their riches, lake and plain,Cornland and fell and pillared wood;When in a hill-top acre, bareFor the seed’s use, I am awareOf all the beauty that an ageOf earth has taught my eyes to see;
When Pride and GenerosityThe Constant Heart and Evil Rage,Affection and Desire, and allThe passions of experienceAre no more tabled in my mind,Learning’s idolatry, but findParticularity of senseIn daily fortitudes that fallFrom this or that companion,Or in an angry gossip’s word;When one man speaks for Every One,When Music lives in one small bird,When in a furrowed hill we seeAll beauty in epitome--Those hours are best; for those belongTo the lucidity of song.
Words in this poem
- pillared a.
- Supported or ornamented by pillars; resembling a pillar, or pillars.
- acre n.
- Any field of arable or pasture land. [OE. aker, AS. æcer; akin to OS. accar, OHG. achar, Ger. acker, Icel. akr, Sw. åker, Dan. ager, Goth. akrs, L. ager, Gr. ajra. *2, 206.]
- generosity n.
- Noble birth. Harris (Voyages). [L. generositas: cf. F. générosité.]
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- lucidity n.
- The quality or state of being lucid. [Cf. F. lucidité. See Lucid.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Hours 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 Hours, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/the-hours.html, id L23005.
Form and metre
The Hours is 30 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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.
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 -ABB- suddenly · stillA · heardB · birdB · tree
- 2 ACDDCEEF- hillA · neighbourhoodC · brainD · plainD · woodC · bareE · awareE · ageF · see
- 3 -FG-HH-G-I-I--JJ generosity · rageF · allG · experience · mindH · findH · sense · fallG · companion · wordI · one · birdI · see · epitome · belongJ · songJ
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Those hours are best when suddenly | 9 | ·/˘···/˘˘ |
| The voices of the world are still, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And in that quiet place is heard | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The voice of one small singing bird, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Alone within his quiet tree; | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| When to one field that crowns a hill, | 8 | ········ |
| With but the sky for neighbourhood, | 8 | ········ |
| The crowding counties of my brain | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Give all their riches, lake and plain, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Cornland and fell and pillared wood; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When in a hill-top acre, bare | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For the seed’s use, I am aware | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Of all the beauty that an age | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of earth has taught my eyes to see; | 8 | ········ |
| When Pride and Generosity | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| The Constant Heart and Evil Rage, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Affection and Desire, and all | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/·· |
| The passions of experience | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Are no more tabled in my mind, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Learning’s idolatry, but find | 8 | /˘˘/˘˘·· |
| Particularity of sense | 8 | ˘·˘/˘˘·· |
| In daily fortitudes that fall | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| From this or that companion, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Or in an angry gossip’s word; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| When one man speaks for Every One, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When Music lives in one small bird, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| When in a furrowed hill we see | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| All beauty in epitome-- | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Those hours are best; for those belong | 8 | ·/····˘/ |
| To the lucidity of song. | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
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.