Poppy Seed
The Great Adventure of Max BreuckSancta Maria, Succurre MiserisAfter Hearing a Waltz by BartokClear, with Light, Variable WindsThe BasketIn a CastleThe Book of Hours of Sister ClotildeThe Exeter RoadThe ShadowThe ForsakenLate SeptemberThe PikeThe Blue ScarfWhite and GreenAubadeMusicA LadyIn a GardenA Tulip Garden
Words in this poem
- waltz n.
- A dance performed by two persons in circular figures with a whirling motion; also, a piece of music composed in triple measure for this kind of dance. [G. walzer, from walzen to roll, revolve, dance, OHG. walzan to roll; akin to AS. wealtan. See Welter.]
- aubade n.
- An open air concert in the morning, as distinguished from an evening serenade; also, a pianoforte composition suggestive of morning. Grove. [F., fr. aube the dawn, fr. L. albus white.]
- tulip n.
- Any plant of the liliaceous genus Tulipa. Many varieties are cultivated for their beautiful, often variegated flowers. Tulip tree. [F. tulipe, OF. also tulipan, It. tulipano, tulipa, from Turk. tulbend, dulbend, literally, a turban, Per. dulband; -- so called from the resemblance of the form]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poppy Seed 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, Poppy Seed, in Sword Blades and Poppy Seed (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1020, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lowell-amy-sword-blades/poppy-seed.html, id L08198.
Form and metre
Poppy Seed is 19 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 4.8 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 100% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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-B-A-B-CC breuck · miseris · bartok · winds · basket · castle · clotilde · road · shadow · forsakenA · september · pikeB · scarf · greenA · aubade · musicB · lady · gardenC · gardenC
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The Great Adventure of Max Breuck | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Sancta Maria, Succurre Miseris | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| After Hearing a Waltz by Bartok | 9 | ··/˘···/˘ |
| Clear, with Light, Variable Winds | 8 | ···/˘˘˘· |
| The Basket | 3 | ·/˘ |
| In a Castle | 4 | ··/˘ |
| The Book of Hours of Sister Clotilde | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| The Exeter Road | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| The Shadow | 3 | ·/· |
| The Forsaken | 4 | ·˘/˘ |
| Late September | 4 | ·˘/˘ |
| The Pike | 2 | ·· |
| The Blue Scarf | 3 | ··· |
| White and Green | 3 | ··· |
| Aubade | 2 | ·· |
| Music | 2 | /˘ |
| A Lady | 3 | ·/˘ |
| In a Garden | 4 | ··/˘ |
| A Tulip Garden | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
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.