The Crooked Footpath
AH, here it is! the sliding railThat marks the old remembered spot,--The gap that struck our school-boy trail,--The crooked path across the lot.
It left the road by school and church,A pencilled shadow, nothing more,That parted from the silver-birchAnd ended at the farm-house door.
No line or compass traced its plan;With frequent bends to left or right,In aimless, wayward curves it ran,But always kept the door in sight.
The gabled porch, with woodbine green,--The broken millstone at the sill,--Though many a rood might stretch between,The truant child could see them still.
No rocks across the pathway lie,--No fallen trunk is o'er it thrown,--And yet it winds, we know not why,And turns as if for tree or stone.
Perhaps some lover trod the wayWith shaking knees and leaping heart,--And so it often runs astrayWith sinuous sweep or sudden start.
Or one, perchance, with clouded brainFrom some unholy banquet reeled,--And since, our devious steps maintainHis track across the trodden field.
Nay, deem not thus,--no earthborn willCould ever trace a faultless line;Our truest steps are human still,--To walk unswerving were divine!
Truants from love, we dream of wrath;Oh, rather let us trust the more!Through all the wanderings of the path,We still can see our Father's door!
Words in this poem
- aimless a.
- Without aim or purpose; as, an aimless life.
- wayward a.
- Taking one's own way; disobedient; froward; perverse; willful. [OE. weiward, for aweiward, i. e., turned away. See Away, and -ward.]
- rood n.
- A representation in sculpture or in painting of the cross with Christ hanging on it. [AS. rr, D. roede rod, G. ruthe, rute, OHG. ruota. CF. Rod a measure.]
- pathway n.
- A footpath; a beaten track; any path or course. Also used figuratively.
- unholy a.
- Not holy; unhallowed; not consecrated; hence, profane; wicked; impious.
- devious a.
- Out of a straight line; winding; varying from directness; as, a devious path or way. [L. devius; de + via way. See Viaduct.]
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
- earthborn a.
- Born of the earth; terrigenous; springing originally from the earth; human.
- faultless a.
- Without fault; not defective or imperfect; free from blemish; free from incorrectness, vice, or offense; perfect; as, a faultless poem.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Crooked Footpath is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 06 Poems from the Breakfast Table Series, Project Gutenberg ebook #7393; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Crooked Footpath, in Poems from the Breakfast-Table Series (1858), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7393, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/holmes-breakfast-table-poems/the-crooked-footpath.html, id L23574.
Form and metre
The Crooked Footpath is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%).
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 ABAB railA · spotB · trailA · lotB
- 2 ABAB churchA · moreB · birchA · doorB
- 3 ABAB planA · rightB · ranA · sightB
- 4 ABAB greenA · sillB · betweenA · stillB
- 5 ABAB lieA · thrownB · whyA · stoneB
- 6 ABAB wayA · heartB · astrayA · startB
- 7 ABAB brainA · reeledB · maintainA · fieldB
- 8 ABAB willA · lineB · stillA · divineB
- 9 ABAB wrathA · moreB · pathA · doorB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| AH, here it is! the sliding rail | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That marks the old remembered spot,-- | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The gap that struck our school-boy trail,-- | 8 | ····/··· |
| The crooked path across the lot. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| It left the road by school and church, | 8 | ········ |
| A pencilled shadow, nothing more, | 8 | ·/˘/·/˘· |
| That parted from the silver-birch | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And ended at the farm-house door. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| No line or compass traced its plan; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With frequent bends to left or right, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In aimless, wayward curves it ran, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| But always kept the door in sight. | 8 | ·/······ |
| The gabled porch, with woodbine green,-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The broken millstone at the sill,-- | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| Though many a rood might stretch between, | 8 | ·/······ |
| The truant child could see them still. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| No rocks across the pathway lie,-- | 8 | ··˘/·/·· |
| No fallen trunk is o'er it thrown,-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And yet it winds, we know not why, | 8 | ········ |
| And turns as if for tree or stone. | 8 | ········ |
| Perhaps some lover trod the way | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| With shaking knees and leaping heart,-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And so it often runs astray | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| With sinuous sweep or sudden start. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Or one, perchance, with clouded brain | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| From some unholy banquet reeled,-- | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| And since, our devious steps maintain | 8 | ··//˘·˘/ |
| His track across the trodden field. | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Nay, deem not thus,--no earthborn will | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Could ever trace a faultless line; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Our truest steps are human still,-- | 8 | //˘··/˘· |
| To walk unswerving were divine! | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Truants from love, we dream of wrath; | 8 | /˘······ |
| Oh, rather let us trust the more! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Through all the wanderings of the path, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| We still can see our Father's door! | 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.