The Story-Teller
Over the hearth on which we burnedBrown beech-nuts, lichen-twigs, and cones,I sat beside her while she turnedA forkèd wand within the pyre,Until two little spirts of fireSprang from the hazel’s withered bones.
Then, with her eyes upon her branchPointed with ruddy nuts of flame,Like one who has no power to staunchThe heart’s-blood flowing from his side,She through her mouth undammed a tideOf legends that I could not name:--
Strange villages where damsels fishedFor lovers in a rainbow seaBy night: a crazy man who wishedTo act like God, and very soonOut-freaked the fools that raked the moon:Gold underneath an apple-tree
Discovered by a thrice-dreamed dream:Half-tales, half-ballads--until the roomShook in its shadows with a streamOf pedlars, witches, cats in crowns,Denizens of enchanted towns,And kings confined in forests of gloom.
Her voice went up and down like windThat wanders lost among the eaves;The flamelets on her hazel thinnedAnd dwindled into smouldering eyes;Her voice failed like the wind that dies,She threw a handful of black leaves
On the bright litter of the hearthAnd thrust her hazel’s double sparkWithin. The smell of smoking earthRose from the stones where ceased to burnThe fiery lines of cone and fernAnd berry: the room was dumb and dark.
Words in this poem
- pyre n.
- A funeral pile; a combustible heap on which the dead are burned; hence, any pile to be burnt. [L. pure, Gr. Fire.]
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- enchanted a.
- Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- smouldering a.
- Being in a state of suppressed activity; quiet but not dead.
- handful n.
- As much as the hand will grasp or contain. [AS. handfull.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Story-Teller 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 Story-Teller, in Sonnets and Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56244, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/farjeon-sonnets-poems/the-story-teller.html, id L21977.
Form and metre
The Story-Teller is 36 lines in 6 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABACCB, complete in 4 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABACCB burnedA · conesB · turnedA · pyreC · fireC · bonesB
- 2 -A-BBA branch · flameA · staunch · sideB · tideB · nameA
- 3 ABACCB fishedA · seaB · wishedA · soonC · moonC · treeB
- 4 ABACCB dreamA · roomB · streamA · crownsC · townsC · gloomB
- 5 ABACCB windA · eavesB · thinnedA · eyesC · diesC · leavesB
- 6 -A-BBA hearth · sparkA · earth · burnB · fernB · darkA
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 hearth on which we burned | 8 | ········ |
| Brown beech-nuts, lichen-twigs, and cones, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I sat beside her while she turned | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| A forkèd wand within the pyre, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Until two little spirts of fire | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Sprang from the hazel’s withered bones. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Then, with her eyes upon her branch | 8 | ········ |
| Pointed with ruddy nuts of flame, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Like one who has no power to staunch | 8 | ·····/·· |
| The heart’s-blood flowing from his side, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| She through her mouth undammed a tide | 8 | ········ |
| Of legends that I could not name:-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Strange villages where damsels fished | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| For lovers in a rainbow sea | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| By night: a crazy man who wished | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To act like God, and very soon | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Out-freaked the fools that raked the moon: | 8 | ········ |
| Gold underneath an apple-tree | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Discovered by a thrice-dreamed dream: | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Half-tales, half-ballads--until the room | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Shook in its shadows with a stream | 8 | ···/···· |
| Of pedlars, witches, cats in crowns, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Denizens of enchanted towns, | 8 | /˘˘·˘/˘· |
| And kings confined in forests of gloom. | 9 | ··˘/·/˘·· |
| Her voice went up and down like wind | 8 | ········ |
| That wanders lost among the eaves; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The flamelets on her hazel thinned | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And dwindled into smouldering eyes; | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Her voice failed like the wind that dies, | 8 | ········ |
| She threw a handful of black leaves | 8 | ···/···· |
| On the bright litter of the hearth | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And thrust her hazel’s double spark | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Within. The smell of smoking earth | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Rose from the stones where ceased to burn | 8 | ········ |
| The fiery lines of cone and fern | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And berry: the room was dumb and dark. | 9 | ·/˘······ |
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.