By the Stream
By the stream I dream in calm delight, and watch as in a glass,How the clouds like crowds of snowy-hued and white-robed maidens pass,And the water into ripples breaks and sparkles as it spreads,Like a host of armored knights with silver helmets on their heads.And I deem the stream an emblem fit of human life may go,For I find a mind may sparkle much and yet but shallows show,And a soul may glow with myriad lights and wondrous mysteries,When it only lies a dormant thing and mirrors what it sees.
Words in this poem
- hued a.
- Having color; -- usually in composition; as, bright-hued; many- hued.
- armored a.
- Clad with armor.
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
- myriad n.
- The number of ten thousand; ten thousand persons or things. [Gr. myriade.]
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
By the Stream 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, By the Stream, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/by-the-stream.html, id L26137.
Form and metre
By the Stream is 8 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is iambic octameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in iambic octameter.
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 AABBCCDD glassA · passA · spreadsB · headsB · goC · showC · mysteriesD · seesD
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 octameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| By the stream I dream in calm delight, and watch as in a glass, | 15 | ·······˘/······ |
| How the clouds like crowds of snowy-hued and white-robed maidens pass, | 15 | ······/˘····/˘· |
| And the water into ripples breaks and sparkles as it spreads, | 15 | ··/˘··/˘··/˘··· |
| Like a host of armored knights with silver helmets on their heads. | 15 | ····/˘··/˘/˘··· |
| And I deem the stream an emblem fit of human life may go, | 15 | ······/˘··/˘··· |
| For I find a mind may sparkle much and yet but shallows show, | 15 | ······/˘····/˘· |
| And a soul may glow with myriad lights and wondrous mysteries, | 16 | ······/˘˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| When it only lies a dormant thing and mirrors what it sees. | 15 | ··/˘··/˘··/˘··· |
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.