Walden
In my garden three ways meet,Thrice the spot is blest;Hermit-thrush comes there to build,Carrier-doves to nest.
There broad-armed oaks, the copses' maze,The cold sea-wind detain;Here sultry Summer overstaysWhen Autumn chills the plain.
Self-sown my stately garden grows;The winds and wind-blown seed,Cold April rain and colder snowsMy hedges plant and feed.
From mountains far and valleys nearThe harvests sown to-dayThrive in all weathers without fear,--Wild planters, plant away!
In cities high the careful crowdsOf woe-worn mortals darkling go,But in these sunny solitudesMy quiet roses blow.
Methought the sky looked scornful downOn all was base in man,And airy tongues did taunt the town,'Achieve our peace who can!'
What need I holier dewThan Walden's haunted wave,Distilled from heaven's alembic blue,Steeped in each forest cave?
If Friendship on me smile,I walk in marble galleries,
How drearily in College hallThe Doctor stretched the hours,But in each pause we heard the callOf robins out of doors.
The air is wise, the wind thinks well,And all through which it blows,If plants or brain, if egg or shell,Or bird or biped knows;
And oft at home 'mid tasks I heed,I heed how wears the day;We must not halt while fiercely speedThe spans of life away.
What boots it here of Thebes or RomeOr lands of Eastern day?In forests I am still at homeAnd there I cannot stray.
Words in this poem
- maze n.
- A wild fancy; a confused notion. [OE. mase; cf. OE. masen to confuse, puzzle, Norweg. masast to fall into a slumber, masa to be continually busy, prate, chatter, Icel. masa to chatter, dial. Sw.]
- darkling a.
- Becoming dark or gloomy; frowing.
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- haunted a.
- Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
- drearily adv.
- Gloomily; dismally.
- biped n.
- A two-footed animal, as man. [L. bipes; bis twice + pes, pedis, bipède.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Walden 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, Walden, in Poems (1847), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12843, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/emerson-poems/walden.html, id L07569.
Form and metre
Walden is 46 lines in 12 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 8 of its 12 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 28% 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 -A-A meet · blestA · build · nestA
- 2 ABAB mazeA · detainB · overstaysA · plainB
- 3 ABAB growsA · seedB · snowsA · feedB
- 4 ABAB nearA · dayB · fearA · awayB
- 5 -A-A crowds · goA · solitudes · blowA
- 6 ABAB downA · manB · townA · canB
- 7 ABAB dewA · waveB · blueA · caveB
- 9 A-A- hallA · hours · callA · doors
- 10 ABAB wellA · blowsB · shellA · knowsB
- 11 ABAB heedA · dayB · speedA · awayB
- 12 ABAB romeA · dayB · homeA · strayB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In my garden three ways meet, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Thrice the spot is blest; | 5 | ····· |
| Hermit-thrush comes there to build, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Carrier-doves to nest. | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| There broad-armed oaks, the copses' maze, | 8 | ········ |
| The cold sea-wind detain; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Here sultry Summer overstays | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| When Autumn chills the plain. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Self-sown my stately garden grows; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The winds and wind-blown seed, | 6 | ······ |
| Cold April rain and colder snows | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| My hedges plant and feed. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| From mountains far and valleys near | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The harvests sown to-day | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Thrive in all weathers without fear,-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Wild planters, plant away! | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| In cities high the careful crowds | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Of woe-worn mortals darkling go, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| But in these sunny solitudes | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| My quiet roses blow. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Methought the sky looked scornful down | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| On all was base in man, | 6 | ······ |
| And airy tongues did taunt the town, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| 'Achieve our peace who can!' | 7 | ˘//˘··· |
| What need I holier dew | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| Than Walden's haunted wave, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Distilled from heaven's alembic blue, | 9 | ˘/·/˘˘/˘· |
| Steeped in each forest cave? | 7 | ·˘··/˘· |
| If Friendship on me smile, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I walk in marble galleries, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| How drearily in College hall | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| The Doctor stretched the hours, | 8 | ·/˘·˘·/˘ |
| But in each pause we heard the call | 8 | ········ |
| Of robins out of doors. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The air is wise, the wind thinks well, | 8 | ········ |
| And all through which it blows, | 6 | ······ |
| If plants or brain, if egg or shell, | 8 | ········ |
| Or bird or biped knows; | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| And oft at home 'mid tasks I heed, | 8 | ········ |
| I heed how wears the day; | 6 | ······ |
| We must not halt while fiercely speed | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The spans of life away. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| What boots it here of Thebes or Rome | 8 | ········ |
| Or lands of Eastern day? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| In forests I am still at home | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And there I cannot stray. | 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.