Ballade
By Mystic's banks I held my dream.(I held my fishing rod as well,)The vision was of dace and bream,A fruitless vision, sooth to tell.But round about the sylvan dellWere other sweet Arcadian shrines,Gone now, is all the rural spell,Arcadia has trolley lines.
Oh, once loved, sluggish, darkling stream,For me no more, thy waters swell,Thy music now the engines' scream,Thy fragrance now the factory's smell;Too near for me the clanging bell;A false light in the water shinesWhile Solitude lists to her knell,--Arcadia has trolley lines.
Thy wooded lanes with shade and gleamWhere bloomed the fragrant asphodel,Now bleak commercially teemWith signs "To Let," "To Buy," "To Sell."And Commerce holds them fierce and fell;With vulgar sport she now combinesSweet Nature's piping voice to quell.Arcadia has trolley lines.
Words in this poem
- dace n.
- A small European cyprinoid fish (Squalius leuciscus or Leuciscus vulgaris); -- called also dare. [Written also dare, dart, fr. F. dard dase, dart, of German origin. Dace is for an older darce, fr. an OF. nom. darz. See Dart a javelin.]
- fruitless a.
- Lacking, or not bearing, fruit; barren; destitute of offspring; as, a fruitless tree or shrub; a fruitless marriage.
- sooth a.
- True; faithful; trustworthy. [OE. soth, AS. s, for san; akin to OS. s, OHG. sand, Icel. sannr, Sw. sann, Dan. sand, Skr. sat, sant, real, genuine, present, being; properly p. pr. from a root]
- dell n.
- A small, retired valley; a ravine. [AS. del, akin to E. dale; cf. D. delle, del, low ground. See Dale.]
- arcadian a.
- Of or pertaining to Arcadia; pastoral; ideally rural; as, Arcadian simplicity or scenery. [L. Arcadius, Arcadicus, fr. Arcadia: cf. F. Arcadien, Arcadique.]
- arcadia n.
- A mountainous and picturesque district of Greece, in the heart of the Peloponnesus, whose people were distinguished for contentment and rural happiness.
- darkling a.
- Becoming dark or gloomy; frowing.
- asphodel n.
- A general name for a plant of the genus Asphodelus. The asphodels are hardy perennial plants, several species of which are cultivated for the beauty of their flowers. [L. asphodelus, Gr. Daffodil.]
- commercially adv.
- In a commercial manner.
- teem v. t.
- To think fit. G. Gifford. [See Tame, a., and cf. Beteem.]
- piping a.
- Playing on a musical pipe. [From Pipe, v.]
- quell v. t.
- To take the life of; to kill. [OE. quellen to kill, AS. cwellan, causative of cwelan to die; akin to OHG. quellen to torment, Icel. kvelja. See Quail to cower.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ballade is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Project Gutenberg ebook #18338; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Paul Laurence Dunbar, Ballade, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/ballade.html, id L00764.
Form and metre
Ballade is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABBCBC, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABBCBC dreamA · wellB · breamA · tellB · dellB · shrinesC · spellB · linesC
- 2 ABABBCBC streamA · swellB · screamA · smellB · bellB · shinesC · knellB · linesC
- 3 A-ABBCBC gleamA · asphodel · teemA · sellB · fellB · combinesC · quellB · linesC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| By Mystic's banks I held my dream. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| (I held my fishing rod as well,) | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The vision was of dace and bream, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A fruitless vision, sooth to tell. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| But round about the sylvan dell | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Were other sweet Arcadian shrines, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Gone now, is all the rural spell, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Arcadia has trolley lines. | 8 | ˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Oh, once loved, sluggish, darkling stream, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| For me no more, thy waters swell, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thy music now the engines' scream, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Thy fragrance now the factory's smell; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Too near for me the clanging bell; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A false light in the water shines | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| While Solitude lists to her knell,-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Arcadia has trolley lines. | 8 | ˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Thy wooded lanes with shade and gleam | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Where bloomed the fragrant asphodel, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Now bleak commercially teem | 7 | ··˘/˘˘· |
| With signs "To Let," "To Buy," "To Sell." | 8 | ········ |
| And Commerce holds them fierce and fell; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With vulgar sport she now combines | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Sweet Nature's piping voice to quell. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Arcadia has trolley lines. | 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.