We flash across the level
WE flash across the level.We thunder thro’ the bridges.We bicker down the cuttings.We sway along the ridges.
A rush of streaming hedges,Of jostling lights and shadows,Of hurtling, hurrying stations,Of racing woods and meadows.
We charge the tunnels headlong—The blackness roars and shatters.We crash between embankments—The open spins and scatters.
We shake off the miles like water,We might carry a royal ransom;And I think of her waiting, waiting,And long for a common hansom.
Words in this poem
- bicker v. i.
- To skirmish; to exchange blows; to fight. [OE. bikeren, perh. fr. Celtic; cf. W. bicra to fight, bicker, bicre conflict, skirmish; perh. akin to E. beak.]
- streaming a.
- Sending forth streams.
- hansom n.
- A light, low, two-wheeled covered carriage with the driver's seat elevated behind, the reins being passed over the top. [From the name of the inventor.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
We flash across the level 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, We flash across the level, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/we-flash-across-the-level.html, id L12404.
Form and metre
We flash across the level is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 13 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 -A-A level · bridgesA · cuttings · ridgesA
- 2 AA-A hedgesA · shadowsA · stations · meadowsA
- 3 -A-A headlong · shattersA · embankments · scattersA
- 4 -A-A water · ransomA · waiting · hansomA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| WE flash across the level. | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| We thunder thro’ the bridges. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| We bicker down the cuttings. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| We sway along the ridges. | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| A rush of streaming hedges, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Of jostling lights and shadows, | 8 | ·/˘˘··/· |
| Of hurtling, hurrying stations, | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Of racing woods and meadows. | 7 | ·/˘··/· |
| We charge the tunnels headlong— | 7 | ···/˘/· |
| The blackness roars and shatters. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| We crash between embankments— | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| The open spins and scatters. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| We shake off the miles like water, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| We might carry a royal ransom; | 9 | ··/˘·/˘/˘ |
| And I think of her waiting, waiting, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| And long for a common hansom. | 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.