Ballad of Another Ophelia
OH the green glimmer of apples in the orchard,Lamps in a wash of rain!Oh the wet walk of my brown hen through the stack-yard,Oh tears on the window pane!
Nothing now will ripen the bright green apples,Full of disappointment and of rain,Brackish they will taste, of tears, when the yellowdapplesOf autumn tell the withered tale again.
All round the yard it is cluck, my brown hen,Cluck, and the rain-wet wings,Cluck, my marigold bird, and againCluck for your yellow darlings.
For the grey rat found the gold thirteenHuddled away in the dark,Flutter for a moment, oh the beast is quick andkeen,Extinct one yellow-fluffy spark.
Once I had a lover bright like running water,Once his face was laughing like the sky;Open like the sky looking down in all its laughterOn the buttercups, and the buttercups was I.
What, then, is there hidden in the skirts of all theblossom?What is peeping from your wings, oh motherhen?'Tis the sun who asks the question, in a lovely hastefor wisdom;What a lovely haste for wisdom is in men!
Yea, but it is cruel when undressed is all the blossom,And her shift is lying white upon the floor,That a grey one, like a shadow, like a rat, a thief, arain-storm,Creeps upon her then and gathers in his store.
Oh the grey garner that is full of half-grown apples,Oh the golden sparkles laid extinct!And oh, behind the cloud-sheaves, like yellow autumndapples,Did you see the wicked sun that winked!
Words in this poem
- pane n.
- The narrow edge of a hammer head. See Peen. [F. panne.]
- disappointment n.
- The act of disappointing, or the state of being disappointed; defeat or failure of expectation or hope; miscarriage of design or plan; frustration. [Cf. F. désappointement.]
- cluck v. i.
- To make the noise, or utter the call, of a brooding hen. Ray. [AS. cloccian; cf. D. klokken, G. glucken, glucksen, LG. klukken, Dan. klukke; all prob. of imitative origin.]
- garner n.
- A granary; a building or place where grain is stored for preservation. [OE. garner, gerner, greiner, OF. gernier, grenier, F. grenier, fr. L. granarium, fr. granum. See 1st Grain, and cf. Granary.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ballad of Another Ophelia is in the public domain. This text is taken from Amores: Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #22531; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: D. H. Lawrence, Ballad of Another Ophelia, in Amores (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22531, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lawrence-amores/ballad-of-another-ophelia.html, id L13563.
Form and metre
Ballad of Another Ophelia is 39 lines in 8 stanzas. 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.8 syllables. 12 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 28% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 orchard · rainA · yard · paneA
- 2 AB-AB applesA · rainB · yellow · dapplesA · againB
- 3 ABAB henA · wingsB · againA · darlingsB
- 4 AB-AB thirteenA · darkB · and · keenA · sparkB
- 5 -A-A water · skyA · laughter · iA
- 6 ---A--A the · blossom · mother · henA · haste · wisdom · menA
- 7 -A--A blossom · floorA · a · storm · storeA
- 8 AB-AB applesA · extinctB · autumn · dapplesA · winkedB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| OH the green glimmer of apples in the orchard, | 12 | ···/˘·/˘··/˘ |
| Lamps in a wash of rain! | 6 | ······ |
| Oh the wet walk of my brown hen through the stack-yard, | 12 | ············ |
| Oh tears on the window pane! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Nothing now will ripen the bright green apples, | 11 | /˘··/˘···/˘ |
| Full of disappointment and of rain, | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| Brackish they will taste, of tears, when the yellow | 11 | /˘·······/˘ |
| dapples | 1 | · |
| Of autumn tell the withered tale again. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| All round the yard it is cluck, my brown hen, | 10 | ·········· |
| Cluck, and the rain-wet wings, | 6 | ······ |
| Cluck, my marigold bird, and again | 9 | ··/˘···˘/ |
| Cluck for your yellow darlings. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| For the grey rat found the gold thirteen | 9 | ·······// |
| Huddled away in the dark, | 7 | /˘˘/··· |
| Flutter for a moment, oh the beast is quick and | 12 | /˘··/˘······ |
| keen, | 1 | · |
| Extinct one yellow-fluffy spark. | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Once I had a lover bright like running water, | 12 | ····/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Once his face was laughing like the sky; | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Open like the sky looking down in all its laughter | 13 | /˘···/˘····/˘ |
| On the buttercups, and the buttercups was I. | 12 | ··/˘···/˘··· |
| What, then, is there hidden in the skirts of all the | 12 | ····/˘······ |
| blossom? | 2 | /˘ |
| What is peeping from your wings, oh mother | 10 | ··/˘····/˘ |
| hen? | 1 | · |
| 'Tis the sun who asks the question, in a lovely haste | 13 | ······/˘··/˘· |
| for wisdom; | 3 | ·/˘ |
| What a lovely haste for wisdom is in men! | 11 | ··/˘··/˘··· |
| Yea, but it is cruel when undressed is all the blossom, | 13 | ····/·˘/···/˘ |
| And her shift is lying white upon the floor, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| That a grey one, like a shadow, like a rat, a thief, a | 14 | ······/······· |
| rain-storm, | 2 | ·· |
| Creeps upon her then and gathers in his store. | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| Oh the grey garner that is full of half-grown apples, | 13 | ···/˘······/˘ |
| Oh the golden sparkles laid extinct! | 9 | ··/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And oh, behind the cloud-sheaves, like yellow autumn | 12 | ········/˘/˘ |
| dapples, | 1 | · |
| Did you see the wicked sun that winked! | 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.