Visitor
HER little face is like a walnut shellWith wrinkling lines; her soft, white hair adornsHer withered brows in quaint, straight curls, like horns;And all about her clings an old, sweet smell.Prim is her gown and quakerlike her shawl.Well might her bonnets have been born on her.Can you conceive a Fairy GodmotherThe subject of a strong religious call?In snow or shine, from bed to bed she runs,All twinkling smiles and texts and pious tales,Her mittened hands, that ever give or pray,Bearing a sheaf of tracts, a bag of buns:A wee old maid that sweeps the Bridegroom’s way,Strong in a cheerful trust that never fails.
Words in this poem
- quaint a.
- Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. [OE. queint, queynte, coint, prudent, wise, cunning, pretty, odd, OF. cointe cultivated, amiable, agreeable, neat, fr. L. cognitus known, p. p. of cognoscere to ]
- godmother n.
- A woman who becomes sponsor for a child in baptism. See Godfather [AS. godm.]
- twinkling n.
- The act of one who, or of that which, twinkles; a quick movement of the eye; a wink; a twinkle. Holland.
- mittened a.
- Covered with a mitten or mittens.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Visitor 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, Visitor, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/visitor.html, id L12341.
Form and metre
Visitor is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBAC--CDEFDFE shellA · adornsB · hornsB · smellA · shawlC · her · godmother · callC · runsD · talesE · prayF · bunsD · wayF · failsE
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| HER little face is like a walnut shell | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| With wrinkling lines; her soft, white hair adorns | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Her withered brows in quaint, straight curls, like horns; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And all about her clings an old, sweet smell. | 10 | ·········· |
| Prim is her gown and quakerlike her shawl. | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Well might her bonnets have been born on her. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Can you conceive a Fairy Godmother | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/·˘ |
| The subject of a strong religious call? | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| In snow or shine, from bed to bed she runs, | 10 | ·········· |
| All twinkling smiles and texts and pious tales, | 9 | ·/˘····/· |
| Her mittened hands, that ever give or pray, | 9 | ·/˘··/··· |
| Bearing a sheaf of tracts, a bag of buns: | 10 | /˘········ |
| A wee old maid that sweeps the Bridegroom’s way, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Strong in a cheerful trust that never fails. | 9 | ···/˘··/· |
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.