To Robert Nichols
(From Frise on the Somme in February, 1917, in answerto a letter saying: "I am just finishing my 'Faun'sHoliday.' I wish you were here to feed him withcherries.")
Here by a snowbound riverIn scrapen holes we shiver,And like old bitterns weBoom to you plaintively:Robert how can I rhymeVerses for your desire--Sleek fauns and cherry-time,Vague music and green trees,Hot sun and gentle breeze,England in June attire,And life born young again,For your gay goatish bruteDrunk with warm melodySinging on beds of thymeWith red and rolling eye,All the Devonian plain,Lips dark with juicy stain,Ears hung with bobbing fruit?Why should I keep him time?Why in this cold and rime,Where even to dream is pain?No, Robert, there's no reason:Cherries are out of season,Ice grips at branch and root,And singing birds are mute.
Words in this poem
- goatish a.
- Characteristic of a goat; goatlike.
- rime n.
- A rent or long aperture; a chink; a fissure; a crack. Sir T. [L. rima.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Robert Nichols 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, To Robert Nichols, in Fairies and Fusiliers (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10122, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/graves-fairies/to-robert-nichols.html, id L02414.
Form and metre
To Robert Nichols is 29 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 31% 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.
- 2 AA--BCBDDCEF-B-EEFBBEGGFF riverA · shiverA · we · plaintively · rhymeB · desireC · timeB · treesD · breezeD · attireC · againE · bruteF · melody · thymeB · eye · plainE · stainE · fruitF · timeB · rimeB · painE · reasonG · seasonG · rootF · muteF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| (From Frise on the Somme in February, 1917, in answer | 13 | ······/˘·˘·/˘ |
| to a letter saying: "I am just finishing my 'Faun's | 13 | ··/˘/˘···/˘·· |
| Holiday.' I wish you were here to feed him with | 12 | /˘·········· |
| cherries.") | 2 | /˘ |
| Here by a snowbound river | 7 | ···/·/˘ |
| In scrapen holes we shiver, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And like old bitterns we | 6 | ······ |
| Boom to you plaintively: | 6 | ···/·˘ |
| Robert how can I rhyme | 6 | /˘···· |
| Verses for your desire-- | 7 | /˘··˘/˘ |
| Sleek fauns and cherry-time, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Vague music and green trees, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Hot sun and gentle breeze, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| England in June attire, | 7 | /˘··˘/˘ |
| And life born young again, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| For your gay goatish brute | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Drunk with warm melody | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Singing on beds of thyme | 6 | /˘···· |
| With red and rolling eye, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| All the Devonian plain, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Lips dark with juicy stain, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Ears hung with bobbing fruit? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Why should I keep him time? | 6 | ······ |
| Why in this cold and rime, | 6 | ······ |
| Where even to dream is pain? | 6 | ·/···· |
| No, Robert, there's no reason: | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Cherries are out of season, | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| Ice grips at branch and root, | 6 | ······ |
| And singing birds are mute. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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.