Faun
Here down this very way,Here only yesterdayKing Faun went leaping.He sang, with careless shoutHurling his name about;He sang, with oaken stockHis steps from rock to rockIn safety keeping,"Here Faun is free,Here Faun is free!"
Today against yon pine,Forlorn yet still divine,King Faun leant weeping."They drank my holy brook,My strawberries they took,My private path they trod."Loud wept the desolate God,Scorn on scorn heaping,"Faun, what is he,Faun, what is he?"
Words in this poem
- faun n.
- A god of fields and shipherds, diddering little from the satyr. [L. Faunus, fr. favere to be favorable. See Favor.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- oaken a.
- Made or consisting of oaks or of the wood of oaks. [AS. acen.]
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Faun is in the public domain. This text is taken from Fairies and Fusiliers, Project Gutenberg ebook #10122; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Graves, Faun, in Fairies and Fusiliers (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10122, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/graves-fairies/faun.html, id L02428.
Form and metre
Faun is 20 lines in 2 stanzas of 10 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCCDDBEE. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.5 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 AABCCDDBEE wayA · yesterdayA · leapingB · shoutC · aboutC · stockD · rockD · keepingB · freeE · freeE
- 2 AABCCDDBEE pineA · divineA · weepingB · brookC · tookC · trodD · godD · heapingB · heE · heE
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Here down this very way, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Here only yesterday | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| King Faun went leaping. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| He sang, with careless shout | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Hurling his name about; | 6 | /˘···· |
| He sang, with oaken stock | 6 | ···/˘· |
| His steps from rock to rock | 6 | ······ |
| In safety keeping, | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| "Here Faun is free, | 4 | ···· |
| Here Faun is free!" | 4 | ···· |
| Today against yon pine, | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Forlorn yet still divine, | 6 | ˘/··˘/ |
| King Faun leant weeping. | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| "They drank my holy brook, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| My strawberries they took, | 6 | ·/·˘·· |
| My private path they trod." | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Loud wept the desolate God, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Scorn on scorn heaping, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| "Faun, what is he, | 4 | ···· |
| Faun, what is he?" | 4 | ···· |
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.