The Girl with the Ball
Over the sea hung birds more white than the skinOf the last few swimmers who took the waves with their breasts;The birds dipped straight as her ball when a silver finGlanced in the shallow crests.
She ran so swift, and suddenly stopped as swiftTo look at a shell, or splash up a pool in rain;Wind blew, and she in the wind began to driftFoam-like, and suddenly ran again.
Children who played on the shore in the last of the dayPaused and watched in wonder her rise and fallLike elders watching a child: she was younger than theyAs she ran by the sea with her ball.
Her hair was loose and she had no shoes on her feet,And her image ran under her feet on the wet gold shore,She threw up her ball and she caught it, and once laughed sweetAs though the world had never heard laughter before.
About this text
The Girl with the Ball is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets and Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #56244; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eleanor Farjeon, The Girl with the Ball, in Sonnets and Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56244, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/farjeon-sonnets-poems/the-girl-with-the-ball.html, id L21976.
Form and metre
The Girl with the Ball is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABAB skinA · breastsB · finA · crestsB
- 2 ABAB swiftA · rainB · driftA · againB
- 3 ABAB dayA · fallB · theyA · ballB
- 4 ABAB feetA · shoreB · sweetA · beforeB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Over the sea hung birds more white than the skin | 10 | ·········· |
| Of the last few swimmers who took the waves with their breasts; | 13 | ····/˘······· |
| The birds dipped straight as her ball when a silver fin | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| Glanced in the shallow crests. | 7 | ·˘··/˘· |
| She ran so swift, and suddenly stopped as swift | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To look at a shell, or splash up a pool in rain; | 12 | ············ |
| Wind blew, and she in the wind began to drift | 11 | ·······˘/·· |
| Foam-like, and suddenly ran again. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Children who played on the shore in the last of the day | 13 | /˘··········· |
| Paused and watched in wonder her rise and fall | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Like elders watching a child: she was younger than they | 13 | ·/˘/˘····/˘·· |
| As she ran by the sea with her ball. | 9 | ········· |
| Her hair was loose and she had no shoes on her feet, | 12 | ············ |
| And her image ran under her feet on the wet gold shore, | 14 | ··/˘·········· |
| She threw up her ball and she caught it, and once laughed sweet | 13 | ············· |
| As though the world had never heard laughter before. | 11 | ·····/·/˘·· |
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.