The Great Journalist in Spain
Good Editor Dana--God bless him, we say!Will soon be afloat on the main,Will be steaming awayThrough the mist and the sprayTo the sensuous climate of Spain.
Strange sights shall he see in that beautiful landWhich is famed for its soap and Moor,For, as we understand,The scenery is grand,Though the system of railway is poor.
For moonlight of silver and sunlight of goldGlint the orchards of lemons and mangoes,And the ladies, we're told,Are a joy to beholdAs they twine in their lissome fandangoes.
What though our friend Dana shall twang a guitarAnd murmur a passionate strain--Oh, fairer by farThan these ravishments areThe castles abounding in Spain!
These castles are built as the builder may list--They are sometimes of marble or stone,But they mostly consistOf east wind and mistWith an ivy of froth overgrown.
A beautiful castle our Dana shall raiseOn a futile foundation of hope,And its glories shall blazeIn the somnolent hazeOf the mythical lake del y Soap.
The fragrance of sunflowers shall swoon on the air,And the visions of dreamland obtain,And the song of "World's Fair"Shall be heard everywhereThrough that beautiful castle in Spain.
Words in this poem
- afloat adv.
- Borne on the water; floating; on board ship. [Pref. a- + float.]
- sensuous a.
- Of or pertaining to the senses, or sensible objects; addressing the senses; suggesting pictures or images of sense.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- glint n.
- A glimpse, glance, or gleam. [OE. glent.]
- lissome a.
- Limber; supple; flexible; lithe; lithesome. [For lithesome.]
- futile a.
- Talkative; loquacious; tattling. [L. futilis that easily pours out, that easily lets loose, vain, worthless, from the root of fundere to pour out: cf. F. futile. See Fuse, v. t.]
- somnolent a.
- Sleepy; drowsy; inclined to sleep. [F. somnolent, L. somnolentus, from somnus sleep, akin to Gr. svapna sleep, dream, svap to sleep, Icel. sofa, AS. swefn sleep. Cf. Hypnotic, Somnambulism, Sopori]
- dreamland n.
- An unreal, delightful country such as in sometimes pictured in dreams; region of fancies; fairyland.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Great Journalist in Spain is in the public domain. This text is taken from Hoosier Lyrics, Project Gutenberg ebook #36150; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eugene Field, The Great Journalist in Spain, in Hoosier Lyrics (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36150, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-poems/the-great-journalist-in-spain.html, id L11619.
Form and metre
The Great Journalist in Spain is 35 lines in 7 stanzas of 5 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAAB. 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 40% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABAAB sayA · mainB · awayA · sprayA · spainB
- 2 ABAAB landA · moorB · understandA · grandA · poorB
- 3 ABAAB goldA · mangoesB · toldA · beholdA · fandangoesB
- 4 ABAAB guitarA · strainB · farA · areA · spainB
- 5 ABAAB listA · stoneB · consistA · mistA · overgrownB
- 6 ABAAB raiseA · hopeB · blazeA · hazeA · soapB
- 7 ABAAB airA · obtainB · fairA · everywhereA · spainB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Good Editor Dana--God bless him, we say! | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Will soon be afloat on the main, | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| Will be steaming away | 6 | ··/˘˘/ |
| Through the mist and the spray | 6 | ······ |
| To the sensuous climate of Spain. | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| Strange sights shall he see in that beautiful land | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Which is famed for its soap and Moor, | 8 | ········ |
| For, as we understand, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The scenery is grand, | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| Though the system of railway is poor. | 9 | ··/˘·/··· |
| For moonlight of silver and sunlight of gold | 11 | ·/··/˘·/··· |
| Glint the orchards of lemons and mangoes, | 10 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| And the ladies, we're told, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Are a joy to behold | 6 | ····˘/ |
| As they twine in their lissome fandangoes. | 10 | ·······˘/· |
| What though our friend Dana shall twang a guitar | 11 | ··/·/˘···˘/ |
| And murmur a passionate strain-- | 8 | ·/˘·/˘˘· |
| Oh, fairer by far | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Than these ravishments are | 6 | ······ |
| The castles abounding in Spain! | 8 | ·/˘˘/˘·· |
| These castles are built as the builder may list-- | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| They are sometimes of marble or stone, | 9 | ··˘/·/˘·· |
| But they mostly consist | 6 | ··/˘˘/ |
| Of east wind and mist | 5 | ····· |
| With an ivy of froth overgrown. | 9 | ··/˘···˘/ |
| A beautiful castle our Dana shall raise | 10 | ·/˘/˘//˘·· |
| On a futile foundation of hope, | 9 | ··/˘˘/˘·· |
| And its glories shall blaze | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| In the somnolent haze | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| Of the mythical lake del y Soap. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| The fragrance of sunflowers shall swoon on the air, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| And the visions of dreamland obtain, | 9 | ··/˘·/·˘/ |
| And the song of "World's Fair" | 6 | ······ |
| Shall be heard everywhere | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Through that beautiful castle in Spain. | 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.