To H. B. M. W
WHERE forlorn sunsets flare and fadeOn desolate sea and lonely sand,Out of the silence and the shadeWhat is the voice of strange commandCalling you still, as friend calls friendWith love that cannot brook delay,To rise and follow the ways that wendOver the hills and far away?
Hark in the city, street on streetA roaring reach of death and life,Of vortices that clash and fleetAnd ruin in appointed strife,Hark to it calling, calling clear,Calling until you cannot stayFrom dearer things than your own most dearOver the hills and far away.
Out of the sound of the ebb-and-flow,Out of the sight of lamp and star,It calls you where the good winds blow,And the unchanging meadows are:From faded hopes and hopes agleam,It calls you, calls you night and dayBeyond the dark into the dreamOver the hills and far away
Words in this poem
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- flare v. i.
- To burn with an unsteady or waving flame; as, the candle flares. [Cf. Norw. flara to blaze, flame, adorn with tinsel, dial. Sw. flasa upp, and E. flash, or flacker.]
- wend n.
- A large extent of ground; a perambulation; a circuit.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- agleam adv.
- Gleaming; as, faces agleam. Lowell. [Pref. a- + gleam.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To H. B. M. W 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, To H. B. M. W, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/to-h-b-m-w.html, id L12437.
Form and metre
To H. B. M. W is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABCDCD fadeA · sandB · shadeA · commandB · friendC · delayD · wendC · awayD
- 2 ABABCDCD streetA · lifeB · fleetA · strifeB · clearC · stayD · dearC · awayD
- 3 ABABCDCD flowA · starB · blowA · areB · agleamC · dayD · dreamC · awayD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| WHERE forlorn sunsets flare and fade | 8 | ·˘//···· |
| On desolate sea and lonely sand, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Out of the silence and the shade | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| What is the voice of strange command | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Calling you still, as friend calls friend | 8 | /˘······ |
| With love that cannot brook delay, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| To rise and follow the ways that wend | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Over the hills and far away? | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Hark in the city, street on street | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A roaring reach of death and life, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of vortices that clash and fleet | 8 | ········ |
| And ruin in appointed strife, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Hark to it calling, calling clear, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Calling until you cannot stay | 8 | /˘···˘/· |
| From dearer things than your own most dear | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Over the hills and far away. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Out of the sound of the ebb-and-flow, | 9 | ········· |
| Out of the sight of lamp and star, | 8 | ········ |
| It calls you where the good winds blow, | 8 | ········ |
| And the unchanging meadows are: | 8 | ··˘/˘/·· |
| From faded hopes and hopes agleam, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| It calls you, calls you night and day | 8 | ········ |
| Beyond the dark into the dream | 8 | ········ |
| Over the hills and far away | 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.