Under the Cedarcroft Chestnut
Trim set in ancient sward, his manful boleUpbore his frontage largely toward the sky.We could not dream but that he had a soul:What virtue breathed from out his bravery!
We gazed o'erhead: far down our deepening eyesRained glamours from his green midsummer mass.The worth and sum of all his centuriesSuffused his mighty shadow on the grass.
A Presence large, a grave and steadfast FormAmid the leaves' light play and fantasy,A calmness conquered out of many a storm,A Manhood mastered by a chestnut-tree!
Then, while his monarch fingers downward heldThe rugged burrs wherewith his state was rife,A voice of large authoritative EldSeemed uttering quickly parables of life:
`How Life in truth was sharply set with ills;A kernel cased in quarrels; yea, a sphereOf stings, and hedge-hog-round of mortal quills:How most men itched to eat too soon i' the year,
`And took but wounds and worries for their pains,Whereas the wise withheld their patient hands,Nor plucked green pleasures till the sun and rainsAnd seasonable ripenings burst all bands
`And opened wide the liberal burrs of life.'There, O my Friend, beneath the chestnut bough,Gazing on thee immerged in modern strife,I framed a prayer of fervency -- that thou,
In soul and stature larger than thy kind,Still more to this strong Form might'st liken thee,Till thy whole Self in every fibre findThe tranquil lordship of thy chestnut tree.
Words in this poem
- manful a.
- Showing manliness, or manly spirit; hence, brave, courageous, resolute, noble.
- bole n.
- The trunk or stem of a tree, or that which is like it. [OE. bole, fr. Icel. bolr; akin to Sw. bål, Dan. bul, trunk, stem of a tree, G. bohle a thick plank or board; cf. LG. boll round. Cf. Bulge.]
- frontage n.
- The front part of an edifice or lot; extent of front.
- midsummer n.
- The middle of summer. Shak. Midsummer daisy (Bot.), the oxeye daisy. [AS. midsumor.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- fantasy n.
- Fancy; imagination; especially, a whimsical or fanciful conception; a vagary of the imagination; whim; caprice; humor. [See Fancy.]
- wherewith adv.
- With which; -- used relatively.
- rife a.
- Prevailing; prevalent; abounding. [AS. rif abundant, or Icel. rifr munificent; akin to OD. riff, rijve, abundant.]
- whereas adv.
- At which place; where.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- fervency n.
- The state of being fervent or warm; ardor; warmth of feeling or devotion; eagerness. [Cf. OF. fervence. See Fervent.]
- liken v. t.
- To allege, or think, to be like; to represent as like; to compare; as, to liken life to a pilgrimage. [OE. liknen. See Like, a.]
- fibre n.
- One of the delicate, threadlike portions of which the tissues of plants and animals are in part constituted; as, the fiber of flax or of muscle. [F. fibre, L. fibra.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Under the Cedarcroft Chestnut is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Sidney Lanier, Project Gutenberg ebook #579; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sidney Lanier, Under the Cedarcroft Chestnut, in Poems (1884), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #579, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lanier-poems/under-the-cedarcroft-chestnut.html, id L07655.
Form and metre
Under the Cedarcroft Chestnut is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 31% 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 A-A- boleA · sky · soulA · bravery
- 2 ABAB eyesA · massB · centuriesA · grassB
- 3 A-A- formA · fantasy · stormA · tree
- 4 ABAB heldA · rifeB · eldA · lifeB
- 5 ABAB illsA · sphereB · quillsA · yearB
- 6 ABAB painsA · handsB · rainsA · bandsB
- 7 ABAB lifeA · boughB · strifeA · thouB
- 8 ABAB kindA · theeB · findA · treeB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Trim set in ancient sward, his manful bole | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Upbore his frontage largely toward the sky. | 11 | ···/˘/˘···· |
| We could not dream but that he had a soul: | 10 | ·········· |
| What virtue breathed from out his bravery! | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| We gazed o'erhead: far down our deepening eyes | 10 | ······//˘· |
| Rained glamours from his green midsummer mass. | 10 | ·/˘···//˘· |
| The worth and sum of all his centuries | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Suffused his mighty shadow on the grass. | 10 | ˘/·/˘/···· |
| A Presence large, a grave and steadfast Form | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| Amid the leaves' light play and fantasy, | 10 | ˘/·····/˘˘ |
| A calmness conquered out of many a storm, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/·· |
| A Manhood mastered by a chestnut-tree! | 10 | ·/·/˘··/·· |
| Then, while his monarch fingers downward held | 10 | ···/·/˘/˘· |
| The rugged burrs wherewith his state was rife, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| A voice of large authoritative Eld | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘· |
| Seemed uttering quickly parables of life: | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| `How Life in truth was sharply set with ills; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A kernel cased in quarrels; yea, a sphere | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Of stings, and hedge-hog-round of mortal quills: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| How most men itched to eat too soon i' the year, | 11 | ··········· |
| `And took but wounds and worries for their pains, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Whereas the wise withheld their patient hands, | 10 | ˘/··˘/·/˘· |
| Nor plucked green pleasures till the sun and rains | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And seasonable ripenings burst all bands | 10 | ·/˘˘/˘˘··· |
| `And opened wide the liberal burrs of life.' | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| There, O my Friend, beneath the chestnut bough, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Gazing on thee immerged in modern strife, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| I framed a prayer of fervency -- that thou, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| In soul and stature larger than thy kind, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Still more to this strong Form might'st liken thee, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Till thy whole Self in every fibre find | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| The tranquil lordship of thy chestnut tree. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/·· |
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.