Transition
See yonder leafless trees against the sky,How they diffuse themselves into the air,And, ever subdividing, separateLimbs into branches, branches into twigs.As if they loved the element, and hastedTo dissipate their being into it.
Parks and ponds are good by day;I do not delightIn black acres of the night,Nor my unseasoned step disturbsThe sleeps of trees or dreams of herbs.
In Walden wood the chickadeeRuns round the pine and maple treeIntent on insect slaughter:O tufted entomologist!Devour as many as you list,Then drink in Walden water.
The low December vault in June be lifted high,And largest clouds be flakes of down in that enormous sky.
Words in this poem
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- chickadee n.
- A small bird, the blackcap titmouse (Parus atricapillus), of North America; -- named from its note.
- entomologist n.
- One versed in entomology. [Cf. F. entomologiste.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Transition is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Household Edition, Project Gutenberg ebook #12843; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Transition, in Poems (1847), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12843, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/emerson-poems/transition.html, id L07544.
Form and metre
Transition is 19 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.7 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 32% 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.
- 2 -AABB day · delightA · nightA · disturbsB · herbsB
- 3 --ABBA chickadee · tree · slaughterA · entomologistB · listB · waterA
- 4 AA highA · skyA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| See yonder leafless trees against the sky, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| How they diffuse themselves into the air, | 10 | ··˘/˘/···· |
| And, ever subdividing, separate | 9 | ·/·˘/˘/˘· |
| Limbs into branches, branches into twigs. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| As if they loved the element, and hasted | 10 | ·····/˘·/˘ |
| To dissipate their being into it. | 9 | ·/˘··/··· |
| Parks and ponds are good by day; | 7 | ······· |
| I do not delight | 5 | ···˘/ |
| In black acres of the night, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Nor my unseasoned step disturbs | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| The sleeps of trees or dreams of herbs. | 8 | ········ |
| In Walden wood the chickadee | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Runs round the pine and maple tree | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Intent on insect slaughter: | 7 | ˘/·/·/˘ |
| O tufted entomologist! | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Devour as many as you list, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Then drink in Walden water. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| The low December vault in June be lifted high, | 12 | ··˘/˘····/˘· |
| And largest clouds be flakes of down in that enormous sky. | 14 | ·/˘·······˘/˘· |
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.