Switzerland
This atmosphere is pure ozone!To climb the hills you promptly start;Unless you happen to be proneTo palpitations of the heart;In which case swarming up the AlpsBrings on a bad attack of palps.
The nicest method is to stayQuite comfortably down below,And, from the steps of your chalet,Watch other people upwards go.Then you can buy an alpenstock,And scratch your name upon a rock.
Words in this poem
- promptly adv.
- In a prompt manner.
- comfortably adv.
- In a comfortable or comforting manner.
- chalet n.
- A herdsman's hut in the mountains of Switzerland. [F.]
- alpenstock n.
- A long staff, pointed with iron, used in climbing the Alps. [G.; Alp, gen. pl. Alpen + stock stick.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Switzerland is in the public domain. This text is taken from Verse and Worse, Project Gutenberg ebook #36702; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Harry Graham, Switzerland, in Verse and Worse (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36702, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/graham-verse-and-worse/switzerland.html, id L23315.
Form and metre
Switzerland is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 ABABCC ozoneA · startB · proneA · heartB · alpsC · palpsC
- 2 ABABCC stayA · belowB · chaletA · goB · alpenstockC · rockC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| This atmosphere is pure ozone! | 8 | ·/˘···/· |
| To climb the hills you promptly start; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Unless you happen to be prone | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To palpitations of the heart; | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| In which case swarming up the Alps | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Brings on a bad attack of palps. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| The nicest method is to stay | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Quite comfortably down below, | 8 | ·/˘˘˘··· |
| And, from the steps of your chalet, | 8 | ······/· |
| Watch other people upwards go. | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Then you can buy an alpenstock, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| And scratch your name upon a rock. | 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.