Water
The water understandsCivilization well;It wets my foot, but prettilyIt chills my life, but wittily,It is not disconcerted,It is not broken-hearted:Well used, it decketh joy,Adorneth, doubleth joy:Ill used, it will destroy,In perfect time and measureWith a face of golden pleasureElegantly destroy.
Words in this poem
- prettily adv.
- In a pretty manner.
- wittily adv.
- In a witty manner; wisely; ingeniously; artfully; with it; with a delicate turn or phrase, or with an ingenious association of ideas.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Water 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, Water, in Poems (1847), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12843, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/emerson-poems/water.html, id L07547.
Form and metre
Water is 12 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% 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 ------AAABBA understands · well · prettily · wittily · disconcerted · hearted · joyA · joyA · destroyA · measureB · pleasureB · destroyA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The water understands | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Civilization well; | 6 | ·˘˘/˘· |
| It wets my foot, but prettily | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| It chills my life, but wittily, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| It is not disconcerted, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| It is not broken-hearted: | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Well used, it decketh joy, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Adorneth, doubleth joy: | 7 | ˘/˘/˘˘· |
| Ill used, it will destroy, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| In perfect time and measure | 7 | ·/···/˘ |
| With a face of golden pleasure | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Elegantly destroy. | 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.