On the Potomac River, U.S.A.
AT close of June’s most burning day,We took a ship and sailed away:In mid-Potomac stream sailed we,To Old Point Comfort by the sea.
The heavy hanging air of duskWas thick with scent of fainting musk,And through the tired willow treesStirred never sound or breath of breeze.
So still it was, that from afarWe seemed to hear a falling star,And every drop we heard, that driptFrom off the paddle as it dipped.
The fireflies lit their yellow lamps,And danced along the marshy damps;They skimmed and shot, and skimmed again,While beetles droned a dance-refrain.
The old ship pushed the mists apart,And crawled along with throbbing heart,Pausing from time to time for breathBeside some jetty, still as death.
The moon rose up all reddish gold,And lit the swirling misty foldOf fog along the river bank,Where grew the creepers dark and rank.
Sometimes the lonely “look-out” cried“All’s well”: the water swished and sighedAn endless and protesting song,As stealthily we crept along.
Until at last the wind blew free,Where the Potomac met the sea;And not so very far awayThe shores of Old Point Comfort lay.
Words in this poem
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- jetty v. i.
- To jut out; to project. Florio.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Potomac River, U.S.A. is in the public domain. This text is taken from Songs of Three Counties, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #50591; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Radclyffe Hall, On the Potomac River, U.S.A., in Songs of Three Counties, and Other Poems (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #50591, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hall-three-counties/on-the-potomac-river-u-s-a.html, id L22701.
Form and metre
On the Potomac River, U.S.A. is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 AABB dayA · awayA · weB · seaB
- 2 AABB duskA · muskA · treesB · breezeB
- 3 AABB afarA · starA · driptB · dippedB
- 4 AABB lampsA · dampsA · againB · refrainB
- 5 AABB apartA · heartA · breathB · deathB
- 6 AABB goldA · foldA · bankB · rankB
- 7 AABB criedA · sighedA · songB · alongB
- 8 AABB freeA · seaA · awayB · layB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| AT close of June’s most burning day, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| We took a ship and sailed away: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| In mid-Potomac stream sailed we, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| To Old Point Comfort by the sea. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The heavy hanging air of dusk | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Was thick with scent of fainting musk, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And through the tired willow trees | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| Stirred never sound or breath of breeze. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| So still it was, that from afar | 8 | ······˘/ |
| We seemed to hear a falling star, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And every drop we heard, that dript | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| From off the paddle as it dipped. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The fireflies lit their yellow lamps, | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| And danced along the marshy damps; | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| They skimmed and shot, and skimmed again, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| While beetles droned a dance-refrain. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The old ship pushed the mists apart, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And crawled along with throbbing heart, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Pausing from time to time for breath | 8 | /˘······ |
| Beside some jetty, still as death. | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| The moon rose up all reddish gold, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And lit the swirling misty fold | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Of fog along the river bank, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Where grew the creepers dark and rank. | 8 | ········ |
| Sometimes the lonely “look-out” cried | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| “All’s well”: the water swished and sighed | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| An endless and protesting song, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| As stealthily we crept along. | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘/ |
| Until at last the wind blew free, | 8 | ········ |
| Where the Potomac met the sea; | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And not so very far away | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The shores of Old Point Comfort lay. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
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