AM the Reaper
I AM the Reaper.All things with heedful hookSilent I gather.Pale roses touched with the spring,Tall corn in summer,Fruits rich with autumn, and frail winter blossoms—Reaping, still reaping—All things with heedful hookTimely I gather.
I am the Sower.All the unbodied lifeRuns through my seed-sheet.Atom with atom wed,Each quickening the other,Fall through my hands, ever changing, still changelessCeaselessly sowing,Life, incorruptible life,Flows from my seed-sheet.
Maker and breaker,I am the ebb and the flood,Here and Hereafter.Sped through the tangle and coilOf infinite nature,Viewless and soundless I fashion all being.Taker and giver,I am the womb and the grave,The Now and the Ever.
Words in this poem
- sower n.
- One who, or that which, sows.
- quickening n.
- The act or process of making or of becoming quick.
- changeless a.
- That can not be changed; constant; as, a changeless purpose.
- breaker n.
- One who, or that which, breaks.
- hereafter adv.
- In time to come; in some future time or state. [AS. hræfter.]
- tangle v. t.
- To unite or knit together confusedly; to interweave or interlock, as threads, so as to make it difficult to unravel the knot; to entangle; to ravel. [A frequentative fr. tang seaweed; hence, to twist like seaweed. See Tang seaweed, and cf. Tangle, n.]
- viewless a.
- Not perceivable by the eye; invisible; unseen.
- soundless a.
- Not capable of being sounded or fathomed; unfathomable.
- taker n.
- One who takes or receives; one who catches or apprehended.
- giver n.
- One who gives; a donor; a bestower; a grantor; one who imparts or distributes.
- womb n.
- The belly; the abdomen. [OE. wombe, wambe, AS. wamb, womb; akin to D. wam belly, OS. & OHG. wamba, G. wamme, wampe, Icel. vömb, Sw. v&mb, Dan. vom, Goth. wamba.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
AM the Reaper is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1568; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: W. E. Henley, AM the Reaper, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/am-the-reaper.html, id L12388.
Form and metre
AM the Reaper is 27 lines in 3 stanzas of 9 lines each. The metre is dactylic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 81% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.3 syllables. 15 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 18% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in dactylic dimeter.
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 -ABC--CAB reaper · hookA · gatherB · springC · summer · blossoms · reapingC · hookA · gatherB
- 2 -AB----AB sower · lifeA · sheetB · wed · other · changeless · sowing · lifeA · sheetB
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 dactylic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I AM the Reaper. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| All things with heedful hook | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Silent I gather. | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Pale roses touched with the spring, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Tall corn in summer, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Fruits rich with autumn, and frail winter blossoms— | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Reaping, still reaping— | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| All things with heedful hook | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Timely I gather. | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| I am the Sower. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| All the unbodied life | 5 | ····· |
| Runs through my seed-sheet. | 5 | ····· |
| Atom with atom wed, | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Each quickening the other, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Fall through my hands, ever changing, still changeless | 10 | ····//˘·/˘ |
| Ceaselessly sowing, | 5 | /˘˘/˘ |
| Life, incorruptible life, | 7 | ·/˘˘˘˘· |
| Flows from my seed-sheet. | 5 | ····· |
| Maker and breaker, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| I am the ebb and the flood, | 7 | ······· |
| Here and Hereafter. | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Sped through the tangle and coil | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Of infinite nature, | 6 | ·/˘˘/˘ |
| Viewless and soundless I fashion all being. | 10 | /˘·/˘·/˘·/ |
| Taker and giver, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| I am the womb and the grave, | 7 | ······· |
| The Now and the Ever. | 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.