The Blue Mountains
Above the ashes straight and tall,Through ferns with moisture dripping,I climb beneath the sandstone wall,My feet on mosses slipping.
Like ramparts round the valley's edgeThe tinted cliffs are standing,With many a broken wall and ledge,And many a rocky landing.
And round about their rugged feetDeep ferny dells are hiddenIn shadowed depths, whence dust and heatAre banished and forbidden.
The stream that, crooning to itself,Comes down a tireless rover,Flows calmly to the rocky shelf,And there leaps bravely over.
Now pouring down, now lost in sprayWhen mountain breezes sally,The water strikes the rock midway,And leaps into the valley.
Now in the west the colours change,The blue with crimson blending;Behind the far Dividing Range,The sun is fast descending.
And mellowed day comes o'er the place,And softens ragged edges;The rising moon's great placid faceLooks gravely o'er the ledges.
Words in this poem
- dripping n.
- A falling in drops, or the sound so made.
- ferny a.
- Abounding in ferns.
- rover n.
- One who practices robbery on the seas; a pirate. [D. roover a robber. See Rove, v. i.]
- bravely adv.
- In a brave manner; courageously; gallantly; valiantly; splendidly; nobly.
- midway n.
- The middle of the way or distance; a middle way or course.
- blending n.
- The act of mingling.
- placid a.
- Pleased; contented; unruffied; undisturbed; serene; peaceful; tranquil; quiet; gentle. [L. placidus, originally, pleasing, mild, from placere to please: cf. F. placide. See Please.]
- gravely adv.
- In a grave manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Blue Mountains is in the public domain. This text is taken from In the Days When the World Was Wide, and Other Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #214; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Lawson, The Blue Mountains, in In the Days When the World Was Wide (1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #214, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lawson-world-was-wide/the-blue-mountains.html, id L23229.
Form and metre
The Blue Mountains is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABAB tallA · drippingB · wallA · slippingB
- 2 ABAB edgeA · standingB · ledgeA · landingB
- 3 ABAB feetA · hiddenB · heatA · forbiddenB
- 4 ABAB itselfA · roverB · shelfA · overB
- 5 ABAB sprayA · sallyB · midwayA · valleyB
- 6 ABAB changeA · blendingB · rangeA · descendingB
- 7 ABAB placeA · edgesB · faceA · ledgesB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Above the ashes straight and tall, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Through ferns with moisture dripping, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| I climb beneath the sandstone wall, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| My feet on mosses slipping. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Like ramparts round the valley's edge | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| The tinted cliffs are standing, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| With many a broken wall and ledge, | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| And many a rocky landing. | 8 | ·/˘·/˘/˘ |
| And round about their rugged feet | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Deep ferny dells are hidden | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| In shadowed depths, whence dust and heat | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Are banished and forbidden. | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| The stream that, crooning to itself, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Comes down a tireless rover, | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| Flows calmly to the rocky shelf, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And there leaps bravely over. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Now pouring down, now lost in spray | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| When mountain breezes sally, | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| The water strikes the rock midway, | 8 | ·/˘···/· |
| And leaps into the valley. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Now in the west the colours change, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The blue with crimson blending; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Behind the far Dividing Range, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The sun is fast descending. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| And mellowed day comes o'er the place, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And softens ragged edges; | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| The rising moon's great placid face | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Looks gravely o'er the ledges. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
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.