To the Earl Russell III
Through the fresh woods there fleetFawns, with bright eyes, light feet:Bright eyes, and feet that spurnThe pure green fern.
Headed by leaping does,The swift procession goesThrough thickets, over lawns:Followed by fawns.
Over slopes, over glades,Down dells and leafy shades,Away the quick deer troop:A wildwood group.
Under the forest airs,A life of grace is theirs:Courtly their look; they seemThings of a dream.
Some say, but who can say?That a charmed troop are they:Once youths and maidens white!These may be right.
Words in this poem
- spurn v. t.
- To drive back or away, as with the foot; to kick. [OE. spurnen to kick against, to stumble over, AS. spurnan to kick, offend; akin to spura spur, OS. & OHG. spurnan to kick, Icel. spyrna, L. spernere to despise,]
- wildwood n.
- A wild or unfrequented wood. Also used adjectively; as, wildwood flowers; wildwood echoes. Burns.
- courtly a.
- Relating or belonging to a court. [From Court.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To the Earl Russell III 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, To the Earl Russell III, in Poems (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66520, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-lionel-poems/to-the-earl-russell-iii.html, id L12504.
Form and metre
To the Earl Russell III is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.5 syllables. 20% 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 AABB fleetA · feetA · spurnB · fernB
- 2 --AA does · goes · lawnsA · fawnsA
- 3 AABB gladesA · shadesA · troopB · groupB
- 4 AABB airsA · theirsA · seemB · dreamB
- 5 AABB sayA · theyA · whiteB · rightB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Through the fresh woods there fleet | 6 | ······ |
| Fawns, with bright eyes, light feet: | 6 | ······ |
| Bright eyes, and feet that spurn | 6 | ······ |
| The pure green fern. | 4 | ···· |
| Headed by leaping does, | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| The swift procession goes | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Through thickets, over lawns: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Followed by fawns. | 4 | /˘·· |
| Over slopes, over glades, | 6 | ······ |
| Down dells and leafy shades, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Away the quick deer troop: | 6 | ˘/···· |
| A wildwood group. | 4 | ·/·· |
| Under the forest airs, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A life of grace is theirs: | 6 | ······ |
| Courtly their look; they seem | 6 | /˘···· |
| Things of a dream. | 4 | ···· |
| Some say, but who can say? | 6 | ······ |
| That a charmed troop are they: | 7 | ···˘··· |
| Once youths and maidens white! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| These may be right. | 4 | ···· |
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.