Laurel · Lionel Johnson · Poems

Cadgwith

Lionel Johnson (1867–1902) · 1895

iambic trimeter · ABAB · 80 lines · from Poems

Man is a shadow's dream!Opulent Pindar saith:Yet man may win a gleamOf glory, before death.

Saith golden Shakespeare: ManIs a dream's shadow! Yet,Though death do all death can,His soul toward life is set.

I, living with delightThis rich autumnal day,Mark the gulls' curving flightAcross the black-girt bay.

And the sea's working men,The fisher-folk, I markHaul down their boats, and thenLaunch for the deep sea dark.

Far out the strange ships go:Their broad sails flashing redAs flame, or white as snow:The ships, as David said.

Winds rush and waters roll:Their strength, their beauty, bringsInto mine heart the wholeMagnificence of things:

That men are counted worthA part upon this sea,A part upon this earth,Exalts and heartens me.

Ah, Glaucus, soul of man!Encrusted by each tide,That, since the seas began,Hath surged against thy side:

Encumbering thee with weed,And tangle of the wave!Yet canst thou rise at need,And thy strong beauty save!

Tides of the world in vainDesire to vanquish thee:Prostrate, thou canst againRise, lord of earth and sea:

Rise, lord of sea and earth,And winds, and starry night.Thine is the greater birthAnd origin of light.

My windows open to the autumn night,In vain I watched for sleep to visit me:How should sleep dull mine ears, and dim my sight,Who saw the stars, and listened to the sea?

Ah, how the City of our God is fair!If, without sea, and starless though it be,For joy of the majestic beauty there,Men shall not miss the stars, nor mourn the sea.

Mary Star of the Sea!Look on this little place:Bless the kind fisher race,Mary Star of the Sea!

Send harvest from the deep,Mary Star of the Sea!Mary Star of the Sea!Let not these women weep.

Mary Star of the Sea!Give wife and mother joyIn husband and in boy:Mary Star of the Sea!

With intercession save,Mary Star of the Sea!Mary Star of the Sea!These children of the wave.

Mary Star of the Sea!Pour peace upon the wildWaves, make their murmurs mild:Mary Star of the Sea!

Now in thy mercy pray,Mary Star of the Sea!Mary Star of the Sea!For sailors far away.

Mary Star of the Sea!Now be thy great prayers saidFor all poor seamen dead:Mary Star of the Sea!

Words in this poem

pindar n.: The peanut (Arachis hypogæa); -- so called in the West Indies. [D. piendel.]
saith: 3d pers. sing. pres. of Say.
magnificence n.: The act of doing what magnificent; the state or quality of being magnificent. Acts xix. 27. [F. magnificence, L. magnificentia. See Magnific.]
glaucus n.: A genus of nudibranchiate mollusks, found in the warmer latitudes, swimming in the open sea. These mollusks are beautifully colored with blue and silvery white. [L., sea green.]
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.]
starry a.: Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
starless a.: Being without stars; having no stars visible; as, a starless night.
shall v. i.: To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
intercession n.: The act of interceding; mediation; interposition between parties at variance, with a view to reconcilation; prayer, petition, or entreaty in favor of, or (less often) against, another or others. [L. intercessio an intervention, a becoming surety: cf. F. intercession. See Intercede.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Cadgwith is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #66520; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Lionel Johnson, Cadgwith, in Poems (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66520, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-lionel-poems/cadgwith.html, id L20710.

Form and metre

Cadgwith is 80 lines in 20 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 13 of its 20 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).

See other poems in iambic trimeter.

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 dream^A · saith^B · gleam^A · death^B
2 ABAB man^A · yet^B · can^A · set^B
3 ABAB delight^A · day^B · flight^A · bay^B
4 ABAB men^A · mark^B · then^A · dark^B
5 ABAB go^A · red^B · snow^A · said^B
6 ABAB roll^A · brings^B · whole^A · things^B
7 ABAB worth^A · sea^B · earth^A · me^B
8 ABAB man^A · tide^B · began^A · side^B
9 ABAB weed^A · wave^B · need^A · save^B
10 ABAB vain^A · thee^B · again^A · sea^B
11 ABAB earth^A · night^B · birth^A · light^B
12 ABAB night^A · me^B · sight^A · sea^B
13 ABAB fair^A · be^B · there^A · sea^B
14 ABBA sea^A · place^B · race^B · sea^A
15 ABBA deep^A · sea^B · sea^B · weep^A
16 ABBA sea^A · joy^B · boy^B · sea^A
17 ABBA save^A · sea^B · sea^B · wave^A
18 ABBA sea^A · wild^B · mild^B · sea^A
19 ABBA pray^A · sea^B · sea^B · away^A
20 ABBA sea^A · said^B · dead^B · sea^A

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 trimeter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
Man is a shadow's dream!	6	···/··
Opulent Pindar saith:	6	/˘˘···
Yet man may win a gleam	6	······
Of glory, before death.	6	·/˘···
Saith golden Shakespeare: Man	6	·/˘/··
Is a dream's shadow! Yet,	6	···/··
Though death do all death can,	6	······
His soul toward life is set.	7	·······
I, living with delight	6	·/˘·˘/
This rich autumnal day,	6	··˘/˘·
Mark the gulls' curving flight	6	···/˘·
Across the black-girt bay.	6	˘/····
And the sea's working men,	6	···/˘·
The fisher-folk, I mark	6	·/˘···
Haul down their boats, and then	6	······
Launch for the deep sea dark.	6	······
Far out the strange ships go:	6	······
Their broad sails flashing red	6	···/˘·
As flame, or white as snow:	6	······
The ships, as David said.	6	···/˘·
Winds rush and waters roll:	6	···/˘·
Their strength, their beauty, brings	6	···/˘·
Into mine heart the whole	6	······
Magnificence of things:	6	˘/˘˘··
That men are counted worth	6	···/˘·
A part upon this sea,	6	······
A part upon this earth,	6	······
Exalts and heartens me.	6	˘/·/˘·
Ah, Glaucus, soul of man!	6	·/˘···
Encrusted by each tide,	6	˘/˘···
That, since the seas began,	6	····˘/
Hath surged against thy side:	6	······
Encumbering thee with weed,	6	˘/˘···
And tangle of the wave!	6	·/˘···
Yet canst thou rise at need,	6	······
And thy strong beauty save!	6	···/˘·
Tides of the world in vain	6	······
Desire to vanquish thee:	6	˘/·/˘·
Prostrate, thou canst again	6	/˘··˘/
Rise, lord of earth and sea:	6	······
Rise, lord of sea and earth,	6	······
And winds, and starry night.	6	···/˘·
Thine is the greater birth	6	···/˘·
And origin of light.	6	·/˘˘··
My windows open to the autumn night,	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
In vain I watched for sleep to visit me:	10	·······/˘·
How should sleep dull mine ears, and dim my sight,	10	··········
Who saw the stars, and listened to the sea?	10	·····/˘···
Ah, how the City of our God is fair!	10	···/˘·/···
If, without sea, and starless though it be,	10	·····/˘···
For joy of the majestic beauty there,	10	····˘/˘/˘·
Men shall not miss the stars, nor mourn the sea.	10	··········
Mary Star of the Sea!	6	/˘····
Look on this little place:	6	···/˘·
Bless the kind fisher race,	6	···/˘·
Mary Star of the Sea!	6	/˘····
Send harvest from the deep,	6	·/˘···
Mary Star of the Sea!	6	/˘····
Mary Star of the Sea!	6	/˘····
Let not these women weep.	6	···/˘·
Mary Star of the Sea!	6	/˘····
Give wife and mother joy	6	···/˘·
In husband and in boy:	6	·/˘···
Mary Star of the Sea!	6	/˘····
With intercession save,	6	··˘/˘·
Mary Star of the Sea!	6	/˘····
Mary Star of the Sea!	6	/˘····
These children of the wave.	6	·/˘···
Mary Star of the Sea!	6	/˘····
Pour peace upon the wild	6	······
Waves, make their murmurs mild:	6	···/˘·
Mary Star of the Sea!	6	/˘····
Now in thy mercy pray,	6	···/˘·
Mary Star of the Sea!	6	/˘····
Mary Star of the Sea!	6	/˘····
For sailors far away.	6	·/˘·˘/
Mary Star of the Sea!	6	/˘····
Now be thy great prayers said	6	······
For all poor seamen dead:	6	···/˘·
Mary Star of the Sea!	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.

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