The Fount of Tears
All hot and grimy from the road,Dust gray from arduous years,I sat me down and eased my loadBeside the Fount of Tears.
The waters sparkled to my eye,Calm, crystal-like, and cool,And breathing there a restful sigh,I bent me to the pool.
When, lo! a voice cried: "Pilgrim, rise,Harsh tho' the sentence be,And on to other lands and skies--This fount is not for thee.
"Pass on, but calm thy needless fears,Some may not love or sin,An angel guards the Fount of Tears;All may not bathe therein."
Then with my burden on my backI turned to gaze awhile,First at the uninviting track,Then at the water's smile.
And so I go upon my way,Thro'out the sultry years,But pause no more, by night, by day,Beside the Fount of Tears.
Words in this poem
- grimy a.
- Full of grime; begrimed; dirty; foul.
- arduous a.
- Steep and lofty, in a literal sense; hard to climb. [L. arduus steep, high; akin to Ir. ard high, height.]
- restful a.
- Being at rest; quiet.
- needless a.
- Having no need.
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Fount of Tears 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, The Fount of Tears, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/the-fount-of-tears.html, id L00794.
Form and metre
The Fount of Tears is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 8% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 ABAB roadA · yearsB · loadA · tearsB
- 2 ABAB eyeA · coolB · sighA · poolB
- 3 ABAB riseA · beB · skiesA · theeB
- 4 ABAB fearsA · sinB · tearsA · thereinB
- 5 ABAB backA · awhileB · trackA · smileB
- 6 ABAB wayA · yearsB · dayA · tearsB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| All hot and grimy from the road, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Dust gray from arduous years, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| I sat me down and eased my load | 8 | ········ |
| Beside the Fount of Tears. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| The waters sparkled to my eye, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Calm, crystal-like, and cool, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And breathing there a restful sigh, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I bent me to the pool. | 6 | ······ |
| When, lo! a voice cried: "Pilgrim, rise, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Harsh tho' the sentence be, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And on to other lands and skies-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| This fount is not for thee. | 6 | ······ |
| "Pass on, but calm thy needless fears, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Some may not love or sin, | 6 | ······ |
| An angel guards the Fount of Tears; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| All may not bathe therein." | 6 | ······ |
| Then with my burden on my back | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I turned to gaze awhile, | 7 | ··˘··˘/ |
| First at the uninviting track, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Then at the water's smile. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And so I go upon my way, | 8 | ········ |
| Thro'out the sultry years, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| But pause no more, by night, by day, | 8 | ········ |
| Beside the Fount of Tears. | 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.