Ion
Wash of cold riverin a glacial land,Ionian water,chill, snow-ribbed sand,drift of rare flowers,clear, with delicate shell-like leaf enclosingfrozen lily-leaf,camellia texture,colder than a rose;
wind-flowerthat keeps the breathof the north-wind--these and none other;
intimate thoughts and kindreach out to sharethe treasure of my mind,intimate hands and deardraw garden-ward and sea-wardall the sheer rapturethat I would taketo mould a clearand frigid statue;
rare, of pure texture,beautiful space and line,marble to graceyour inaccessible shrine.
Words in this poem
- ionian a.
- Of or pertaining to Ionia or the Ionians; Ionic. [L. Ionius. See Ionic.]
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ion is in the public domain. This text is taken from Heliodora, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #62456; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: H.D., Ion, in Heliodora, and Other Poems (1924), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #62456, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hd-heliodora/ion.html, id L24295.
Form and metre
Ion is 27 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 -A-A------ river · landA · water · sandA · flowers · shell · enclosing · leaf · texture · rose
- 3 ABAB---B- kindA · shareB · mindA · dearB · ward · rapture · take · clearB · statue
- 4 -A-A texture · lineA · grace · shrineA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wash of cold river | 5 | ···/˘ |
| in a glacial land, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Ionian water, | 6 | ˘/˘˘/˘ |
| chill, snow-ribbed sand, | 4 | ···· |
| drift of rare flowers, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| clear, with delicate shell- | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| like leaf enclosing | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| frozen lily-leaf, | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| camellia texture, | 6 | ˘/˘˘/˘ |
| colder than a rose; | 5 | /˘··· |
| wind-flower | 3 | ·/˘ |
| that keeps the breath | 4 | ···· |
| of the north-wind-- | 4 | ···· |
| these and none other; | 5 | ···/˘ |
| intimate thoughts and kind | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| reach out to share | 4 | ···· |
| the treasure of my mind, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| intimate hands and dear | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| draw garden-ward and sea-ward | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| all the sheer rapture | 5 | ···/˘ |
| that I would take | 4 | ···· |
| to mould a clear | 4 | ···· |
| and frigid statue; | 5 | ·/˘/· |
| rare, of pure texture, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| beautiful space and line, | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| marble to grace | 4 | /˘·· |
| your inaccessible shrine. | 7 | ··˘/˘˘· |
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.