I Went down into the Desert
I went down into the desertTo meet Elijah--Arisen from the dead.I thought to find him in an echoing cave;For so my dream had said.
I went down into the desertTo meet John the Baptist.I walked with feet that bled,Seeking that prophet lean and brown and bold.I spied foul fiends instead.
I went down into the desertTo meet my God.By him be comforted.I went down into the desertTo meet my God.And I met the devil in red.
I went down into the desertTo meet my God.O, Lord my God, awaken from the dead!I see you there, your thorn-crown on the ground,I see you there, half-buried in the sand.I see you there, your white bones glistening, bare,The carrion-birds a-wheeling round your head.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
I Went down into the Desert is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Congo, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1021; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Vachel Lindsay, I Went down into the Desert, in The Congo and Other Poems (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1021, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lindsay-congo/i-went-down-into-the-desert.html, id L20825.
Form and metre
I Went down into the Desert is 23 lines in 4 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic trimeter.
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 --A-A desert · elijah · deadA · cave · saidA
- 2 --A-A desert · baptist · bledA · bold · insteadA
- 3 ABBABB desertA · godB · comfortedB · desertA · godB · redB
- 4 --A---A desert · god · deadA · ground · sand · bare · headA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I went down into the desert | 8 | ······/˘ |
| To meet Elijah-- | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Arisen from the dead. | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| I thought to find him in an echoing cave; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| For so my dream had said. | 6 | ······ |
| I went down into the desert | 8 | ······/˘ |
| To meet John the Baptist. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| I walked with feet that bled, | 6 | ······ |
| Seeking that prophet lean and brown and bold. | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| I spied foul fiends instead. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| I went down into the desert | 8 | ······/˘ |
| To meet my God. | 4 | ···· |
| By him be comforted. | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| I went down into the desert | 8 | ······/˘ |
| To meet my God. | 4 | ···· |
| And I met the devil in red. | 7 | ····/·· |
| I went down into the desert | 8 | ······/˘ |
| To meet my God. | 4 | ···· |
| O, Lord my God, awaken from the dead! | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| I see you there, your thorn-crown on the ground, | 10 | ·········· |
| I see you there, half-buried in the sand. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I see you there, your white bones glistening, bare, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The carrion-birds a-wheeling round your head. | 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.