Whither?
I heard a brooklet gushingFrom its rocky fountain near,Down into the valley rushing,So fresh and wondrous clear.
I know not what came o'er me,Nor who the counsel gave;But I must hasten downward,All with my pilgrim-stave;
Downward, and ever farther,And ever the brook beside;And ever fresher murmured,And ever clearer, the tide.
Is this the way I was going?Whither, O brooklet, say IThou hast, with thy soft murmur,Murmured my senses away.
What do I say of a murmur?That can no murmur be;'T is the water-nymphs, that are singingTheir roundelays under me.
Let them sing, my friend, let them murmur,And wander merrily near;The wheels of a mill are goingIn every brooklet clear.
Words in this poem
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- clearer n.
- One who, or that which, clears.
- whither adv.
- To what place; -- used interrogatively; as, whither goest thou [OE. whider. AS. hwider; akin to E. where, who; cf. Goth. hvadre whither. See Who, and cf. Hither, Thither.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Whither? is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; 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 Wadsworth Longfellow, Whither?, in A Psalm of Life, and Other Poems (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/whither.html, id L26175.
Form and metre
Whither? is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
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 gushingA · nearB · rushingA · clearB
- 2 -A-A me · gaveA · downward · staveA
- 3 -AAA farther · besideA · murmuredA · tideA
- 5 -A-A murmur · beA · singing · meA
- 6 -A-A murmur · nearA · going · clearA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I heard a brooklet gushing | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| From its rocky fountain near, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Down into the valley rushing, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| So fresh and wondrous clear. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I know not what came o'er me, | 7 | ······· |
| Nor who the counsel gave; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But I must hasten downward, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| All with my pilgrim-stave; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Downward, and ever farther, | 7 | /˘·/˘/˘ |
| And ever the brook beside; | 7 | ·/˘···/ |
| And ever fresher murmured, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| And ever clearer, the tide. | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| Is this the way I was going? | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Whither, O brooklet, say I | 7 | /˘·/˘·· |
| Thou hast, with thy soft murmur, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Murmured my senses away. | 8 | /˘˘·/˘˘/ |
| What do I say of a murmur? | 8 | ······/˘ |
| That can no murmur be; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| 'T is the water-nymphs, that are singing | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
| Their roundelays under me. | 7 | ······· |
| Let them sing, my friend, let them murmur, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And wander merrily near; | 7 | ·/˘/˘˘· |
| The wheels of a mill are going | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In every brooklet clear. | 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.