Hill and Vale
Not on the river plainsWilt thou breathe loving air,O mountain spirit fine!Here the calm soul maintainsCalm: but no joy like thine,On hill-tops bleak and bare,Whose breath is fierce and rare.
Were beauty all thy need,Here were an haunt for thee.The broad laborious weald,An eye's delight indeed,Spreads from rich field to field:And full streams wander freeUnder the alder tree.
Throw thee upon the grass,The daisied grass, and gazeFar to the warm blue mist:Feel, how the soft hours passOver, before they wist,Into whole day: and daysDream on in sunny haze.
Each old, sweet, country scentComes, as old music mightUpon thee: old, sweet soundsGo, as they ever went,Over the red corn grounds:Still sweeping scythes delightCharmed hearing and charmed sight
Gentle thy life would be:To watch at morning dewFresh water-lilies: tell,How bears the walnut tree:Find the first foxglove bell,Spare the last harebell blue:And wander the wold through.
Another love is thine:For thee the far world spiedFrom the far mountain top:Keen scented, sounding pine,The purple heather crop:And night's great glorious tideOf stars and clouds allied.
Words in this poem
- weald n.
- A wood or forest; a wooded land or region; also, an open country; -- often used in place names. [AS. See Wold.]
- alder a.
- Of all; -- used in composition; as, alderbest, best of all, alderwisest, wisest of all. [From ealra, alra, gen. pl. of AS. eal. The d is excrescent.]
- daisied a.
- Full of daisies; adorned with daisies.
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- harebell n.
- A small, slender, branching plant (Campanula rotundifolia), having blue bell-shaped flowers; also, Scilla nutans, which has similar flowers; -- called also bluebell.
- wold n.
- A wood; a forest. [OE. wold, wald, AS. weald, wald, a wood, forest; akin to OFries. & OS. wald, D. woud, G. wald, Icel. völlr, a field, and probably to Gr. va a garden, inclosure.]
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hill and Vale 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, Hill and Vale, in Poems (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66520, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-lionel-poems/hill-and-vale.html, id L12475.
Form and metre
Hill and Vale is 42 lines in 6 stanzas of 7 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABCACBB. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.1 syllables. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABCACBB plainsA · airB · fineC · maintainsA · thineC · bareB · rareB
- 2 ABCACBB needA · theeB · wealdC · indeedA · fieldC · freeB · treeB
- 3 ABCACBB grassA · gazeB · mistC · passA · wistC · daysB · hazeB
- 4 ABCACBB scentA · mightB · soundsC · wentA · groundsC · delightB · sightB
- 5 ABCACBB beA · dewB · tellC · treeA · bellC · blueB · throughB
- 6 ABCACBB thineA · spiedB · topC · pineA · cropC · tideB · alliedB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Not on the river plains | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Wilt thou breathe loving air, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| O mountain spirit fine! | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Here the calm soul maintains | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Calm: but no joy like thine, | 6 | ······ |
| On hill-tops bleak and bare, | 6 | ······ |
| Whose breath is fierce and rare. | 6 | ······ |
| Were beauty all thy need, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Here were an haunt for thee. | 6 | ······ |
| The broad laborious weald, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| An eye's delight indeed, | 6 | ··˘/˘/ |
| Spreads from rich field to field: | 6 | ······ |
| And full streams wander free | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Under the alder tree. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Throw thee upon the grass, | 6 | ······ |
| The daisied grass, and gaze | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Far to the warm blue mist: | 6 | ······ |
| Feel, how the soft hours pass | 6 | ····/· |
| Over, before they wist, | 6 | ······ |
| Into whole day: and days | 6 | ······ |
| Dream on in sunny haze. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Each old, sweet, country scent | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Comes, as old music might | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Upon thee: old, sweet sounds | 6 | ······ |
| Go, as they ever went, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Over the red corn grounds: | 6 | ······ |
| Still sweeping scythes delight | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Charmed hearing and charmed sight | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Gentle thy life would be: | 6 | /˘···· |
| To watch at morning dew | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Fresh water-lilies: tell, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| How bears the walnut tree: | 6 | ···/·· |
| Find the first foxglove bell, | 6 | ···/·· |
| Spare the last harebell blue: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And wander the wold through. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Another love is thine: | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| For thee the far world spied | 6 | ······ |
| From the far mountain top: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Keen scented, sounding pine, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| The purple heather crop: | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And night's great glorious tide | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Of stars and clouds allied. | 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.