On the downs beyond the trees
On the downs beyond the treesLoved by the thrilling breeze,While the blackbird calls and knocksGo the shepherds with their flocks.It is noon, and the airIs shimmering still, for nowhereIs there a sound. The sky, half waked,Half sleep, is calm; for peace is lakedBetween the world rim's far spread dikesAnd the trees, from which there strikesThe flute notes that I, listening, hearLiquidly falling on my ear:
"Come quietly, Faun, to my call;Come, come, the noon will cool and passThat now lies edgelessly in thrallUpon the ripened sun-stilled grass.
"There is no sound in all the land,There is no breath in all the skies;Here Warmth and Peace go hand in hand'Neath Silence's inverted eyes.
"My call, spreading endlessly,My mellow call pulses and knocks;Come, Faun, and solemnlyFloat shoulderward your autumned locks.
"Let your fingers, languorous,Slightly curl, palm upward rest,The silent noon waits over us,The feathers stir not on his breast.
"There is no sound nor shrill of pipe,Your feet are noiseless on the ground;The earth is full and stillily ripe,In all the land there is no sound.
"There is a great God who sees allAnd in my throat bestows this boon:To ripple the silence with my callWhen the world sleeps and it is noon."
When I hear the blackbirds' songPiercing cool and mellowly long,I pause to hear, nor do I breatheAs the dusty gorse and heathBreathe not, for their magic callHolds all the pausing earth in thrallAt noon; then I know the skiesMove not, but halt in reveriesOf golden-veiled and misty blue;Then the blackbirds wheeling throughBy Pan guarded in the skies,Piercing the earth with remorseless eyesAre burned scraps of paper castOn a lake quiet, deep, and vast.
Words in this poem
- thrilling a.
- Causing a thrill; causing tremulous excitement; deeply moving; as, a thrilling romance.
- shimmering n.
- A gleam or glimmering.
- nowhere adv.
- Not anywhere; not in any place or state; as, the book is nowhere to be found. [AS. nahwær. See No, and Where.]
- liquidly adv.
- In a liquid manner; flowingly.
- faun n.
- A god of fields and shipherds, diddering little from the satyr. [L. Faunus, fr. favere to be favorable. See Favor.]
- endlessly adv.
- In an endless manner.
- languorous a.
- Producing, or tending to produce, languor; characterized by languor. [From Languor: cf. F. langoureux.]
- boon n.
- A prayer or petition. [OE. bone, boin, a petition, fr. Icel. b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, AS. b, and perh. to E. ban; but influenced by F. bon good, fr. L. bonus. Ban, Bounty.]
- mellowly adv.
- In a mellow manner.
- gorse n.
- Furze. See Furze. [OE. & AS. gorst; perh. akin to E. grow, grass.]
- veiled a.
- Covered by, or as by, a veil; hidden.
- wheeling n.
- The act of conveying anything, or traveling, on wheels, or in a wheeled vehicle.
- remorseless a.
- Being without remorse; having no pity; hence, destitute of sensibility; cruel; insensible to distress; merciless.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the downs beyond the trees is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Marble Faun, Wikisource; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Faulkner, On the downs beyond the trees, in The Marble Faun (1924), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/faulkner-marble-faun/section-5.html, id L28617.
Form and metre
On the downs beyond the trees is 50 lines in 8 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFF treesA · breezeA · knocksB · flocksB · airC · nowhereC · wakedD · lakedD · dikesE · strikesE · hearF · earF
- 2 ABAB callA · passB · thrallA · grassB
- 3 ABAB landA · skiesB · handA · eyesB
- 4 ABAB endlesslyA · knocksB · solemnlyA · locksB
- 5 ABAB languorousA · restB · usA · breastB
- 6 ABAB pipeA · groundB · ripeA · soundB
- 7 ABAB allA · boonB · callA · noonB
- 8 AABBCCDDEEFFGG songA · longA · breatheB · heathB · callC · thrallC · skiesD · reveriesD · blueE · throughE · skiesF · eyesF · castG · vastG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| On the downs beyond the trees | 7 | ······· |
| Loved by the thrilling breeze, | 7 | ·˘··/˘· |
| While the blackbird calls and knocks | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Go the shepherds with their flocks. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| It is noon, and the air | 6 | ······ |
| Is shimmering still, for nowhere | 8 | ·/˘˘··/· |
| Is there a sound. The sky, half waked, | 8 | ········ |
| Half sleep, is calm; for peace is laked | 8 | ········ |
| Between the world rim's far spread dikes | 8 | ········ |
| And the trees, from which there strikes | 7 | ······· |
| The flute notes that I, listening, hear | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Liquidly falling on my ear: | 8 | /˘˘/˘··· |
| "Come quietly, Faun, to my call; | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Come, come, the noon will cool and pass | 8 | ········ |
| That now lies edgelessly in thrall | 9 | ········· |
| Upon the ripened sun-stilled grass. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| "There is no sound in all the land, | 8 | ········ |
| There is no breath in all the skies; | 8 | ········ |
| Here Warmth and Peace go hand in hand | 8 | ········ |
| 'Neath Silence's inverted eyes. | 8 | ·/˘˘˘/˘· |
| "My call, spreading endlessly, | 7 | ··/˘/˘˘ |
| My mellow call pulses and knocks; | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| Come, Faun, and solemnly | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Float shoulderward your autumned locks. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| "Let your fingers, languorous, | 7 | ··/˘/˘˘ |
| Slightly curl, palm upward rest, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| The silent noon waits over us, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The feathers stir not on his breast. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| "There is no sound nor shrill of pipe, | 8 | ········ |
| Your feet are noiseless on the ground; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The earth is full and stillily ripe, | 9 | ········· |
| In all the land there is no sound. | 8 | ········ |
| "There is a great God who sees all | 8 | ········ |
| And in my throat bestows this boon: | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| To ripple the silence with my call | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| When the world sleeps and it is noon." | 8 | ········ |
| When I hear the blackbirds' song | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Piercing cool and mellowly long, | 8 | /˘··/˘˘· |
| I pause to hear, nor do I breathe | 8 | ········ |
| As the dusty gorse and heath | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Breathe not, for their magic call | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Holds all the pausing earth in thrall | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| At noon; then I know the skies | 7 | ······· |
| Move not, but halt in reveries | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Of golden-veiled and misty blue; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Then the blackbirds wheeling through | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| By Pan guarded in the skies, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Piercing the earth with remorseless eyes | 9 | /˘···˘/˘· |
| Are burned scraps of paper cast | 8 | ··˘··/˘· |
| On a lake quiet, deep, and vast. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
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.