Waverley
When, on a novel's newly printed pageWe find a maudlin eulogy of sin,And read of ways that harlots wander in,And of sick souls that writhe in helpless rage;Or when Romance, bespectacled and sage,Taps on her desk and bids the class beginTo con the problems that have always beenPerplexed mankind's unhappy heritage;
Then in what robes of honor habitedThe laureled wizard of the North appears!Who raised Prince Charlie's cohorts from the dead,Made Rose's mirth and Flora's noble tears,And formed that shining legion at whose headRides Waverley, triumphant o'er the years!
Kilmer died in France in 1918, and also published another volume,"Main Street and Other Poems", 1917, as well as individual poems,essays, etc.
Words in this poem
- maudlin a.
- Tearful; easily moved to tears; exciting to tears; excessively sentimental; weak and silly. [From Maudlin, a contr. of Magdalen, OE. Maudeleyne, who is drawn by painters with eyes swelled and red with weeping.]
- heritage a.
- That which is inherited, or passes from heir to heir; inheritance. [OE. heritage, eritage, OF. heritage, eritage, F. héritage, fr. hériter to inherit, LL. heriditare. See Hereditable.]
- habited p. p.
- Clothed; arrayed; dressed; as, he was habited like a shepherd.
- laureled a.
- Crowned with laurel, or with a laurel wreath; laureate.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Waverley is in the public domain. This text is taken from Trees, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #263; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Joyce Kilmer, Waverley, in Trees and Other Poems (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #263, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kilmer-trees/waverley.html, id L12916.
Form and metre
Waverley is 17 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBAABBA pageA · sinB · inB · rageA · sageA · beginB · beenB · heritageA
- 2 ABABAB habitedA · appearsB · deadA · tearsB · headA · yearsB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When, on a novel's newly printed page | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| We find a maudlin eulogy of sin, | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| And read of ways that harlots wander in, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And of sick souls that writhe in helpless rage; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Or when Romance, bespectacled and sage, | 9 | ··˘/˘/˘·· |
| Taps on her desk and bids the class begin | 10 | ········˘/ |
| To con the problems that have always been | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| Perplexed mankind's unhappy heritage; | 9 | ˘///˘/˘/˘ |
| Then in what robes of honor habited | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| The laureled wizard of the North appears! | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Who raised Prince Charlie's cohorts from the dead, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Made Rose's mirth and Flora's noble tears, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| And formed that shining legion at whose head | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Rides Waverley, triumphant o'er the years! | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘··· |
| Kilmer died in France in 1918, and also published another volume, | 16 | /˘·····/˘/˘˘/˘/˘ |
| "Main Street and Other Poems", 1917, as well as individual poems, | 16 | ···/˘/˘····˘/˘/˘ |
| essays, etc. | 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.