Convalescence
From out the dragging vastness of the sea,Wave-fettered, bound in sinuous, seaweed strands,He toils toward the rounding beach, and standsOne moment, white and dripping, silently,Cut like a cameo in lazuli,Then falls, betrayed by shifting shells, and landsProne in the jeering water, and his handsClutch for support where no support can be.So up, and down, and forward, inch by inch,He gains upon the shore, where poppies glowAnd sandflies dance their little lives away.The sucking waves retard, and tighter clinchThe weeds about him, but the land-winds blow,And in the sky there blooms the sun of May.
Words in this poem
- rounding a.
- Round or nearly round; becoming round; roundish.
- dripping n.
- A falling in drops, or the sound so made.
- jeering a.
- Mocking; scoffing.
- tighter n.
- A ribbon or string used to draw clothes closer.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Convalescence is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sword Blades and Poppy Seed, Project Gutenberg ebook #1020; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Amy Lowell, Convalescence, in Sword Blades and Poppy Seed (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1020, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lowell-amy-sword-blades/convalescence.html, id L08206.
Form and metre
Convalescence is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% 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 ABB--BBACDECDE seaA · strandsB · standsB · silently · lazuli · landsB · handsB · beA · inchC · glowD · awayE · clinchC · blowD · mayE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| From out the dragging vastness of the sea, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Wave-fettered, bound in sinuous, seaweed strands, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/·· |
| He toils toward the rounding beach, and stands | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| One moment, white and dripping, silently, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| Cut like a cameo in lazuli, | 10 | ···/˘··˘/˘ |
| Then falls, betrayed by shifting shells, and lands | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Prone in the jeering water, and his hands | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Clutch for support where no support can be. | 10 | ··˘/··˘/·· |
| So up, and down, and forward, inch by inch, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| He gains upon the shore, where poppies glow | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And sandflies dance their little lives away. | 9 | ····/˘·˘/ |
| The sucking waves retard, and tighter clinch | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| The weeds about him, but the land-winds blow, | 10 | ·········· |
| And in the sky there blooms the sun of May. | 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.