Thoughts at Ajaccio
KIND Earth, upon whose mother breastThe fruitful trees in time of spring,Put forth their endless blossomingFrom North to South, from East to West,Whose sweet deep-furrowed soil is blestWith striving seeds and budding flowers,And all the potent toil of hours,From sunrise until even’s rest—
Stretch forth thy leafy arms at dawn,And touch me, compass me around,Fill me with scent of upturned ground,Soft perfume from thy bosom drawn.The gifts I bring thou wilt not scorn,Poor though they must be while I live,For in my hour of death I giveMy heart, that one rose may be born!
About this text
Thoughts at Ajaccio 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, Thoughts at Ajaccio, in Songs of Three Counties, and Other Poems (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #50591, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hall-three-counties/thoughts-at-ajaccio.html, id L22692.
Form and metre
Thoughts at Ajaccio is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 ABBAACCA breastA · springB · blossomingB · westA · blestA · flowersC · hoursC · restA
- 2 ABBACDDC dawnA · aroundB · groundB · drawnA · scornC · liveD · giveD · bornC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| KIND Earth, upon whose mother breast | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The fruitful trees in time of spring, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Put forth their endless blossoming | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| From North to South, from East to West, | 8 | ········ |
| Whose sweet deep-furrowed soil is blest | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With striving seeds and budding flowers, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| And all the potent toil of hours, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| From sunrise until even’s rest— | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Stretch forth thy leafy arms at dawn, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And touch me, compass me around, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Fill me with scent of upturned ground, | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| Soft perfume from thy bosom drawn. | 8 | ·˘/··/˘· |
| The gifts I bring thou wilt not scorn, | 8 | ········ |
| Poor though they must be while I live, | 8 | ········ |
| For in my hour of death I give | 8 | ···/···· |
| My heart, that one rose may be born! | 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.