The Cyclists
Spread on the roadway,With open-blown jackets,Like black, soaring pinions,They swoop down the hillside,The Cyclists.
Seeming dark-plumagedBirds, after carrion,Careening and circling,Over the dyingOf England.
She lies with her bosomBeneath them, no longerThe Dominant Mother,The Virile--but rottingBefore time.
The smell of her, tainted,Has bitten their nostrils.Exultant they hover,And shadow the sun withForeboding.
What charm is yours, you faded old-world tapestries,Of outworn, childish mysteries,Vague pageants woven on a web of dream!And we, pushing and fighting in the turbid streamOf modern life, find solace in your tarnished broideries.
Old lichened halls, sun-shaded by huge cedar-trees,The layered branches horizontal stretched, like JapaneseDark-banded prints. Carven cathedrals, on a skyOf faintest colour, where the gothic spires flyAnd sway like masts, against a shifting breeze.
Worm-eaten pages, clasped in old brown vellum, shrunkFrom over-handling, by some anxious monk.Or Virgin's Hours, bright with gold and gravenWith flowers, and rare birds, and all the Saints of Heaven,And Noah's ark stuck on Ararat, when all the world had sunk.
They soothe us like a song, heard in a garden, sungBy youthful minstrels, on the moonlight flungIn cadences and falls, to ease a queen,Widowed and childless, cowering in a screenOf myrtles, whose life hangs with all its threads unstrung.A London Thoroughfare. 2 A.M.
They have watered the street,It shines in the glare of lamps,Cold, white lamps,And liesLike a slow-moving river,Barred with silver and black.Cabs go down it,One,And then another.Between them I hear the shuffling of feet.Tramps doze on the window-ledges,Night-walkers pass along the sidewalks.The city is squalid and sinister,With the silver-barred street in the midst,Slow-moving,A river leading nowhere.
Opposite my window,The moon cuts,Clear and round,Through the plum-coloured night.She cannot light the city;It is too bright.It has white lamps,And glitters coldly.
I stand in the window and watch the moon.She is thin and lustreless,But I love her.I know the moon,And this is an alien city.
Words in this poem 16
- roadway n.
- A road; especially, the part traveled by carriages.
- swoop v. t.
- To fall on at once and seize; to catch while on the wing; as, a hawk swoops a chicken. [OE. swopen, usually, to sweep, As. swapan to sweep, to rush; akin to G. schweifen to rove, to ramble, to curve, OHG. sweifan to whirl, Icel. sveipa to sweep; al]
- exultant a.
- Inclined to exult; characterized by, or expressing, exultation; rejoicing triumphantly. [L. exsultans, exsultantis, p. pr. of exsultare. See Exult.]
- hover n.
- A cover; a shelter; a protection. Carew. C. Kingsley. [Etymol. doubtful.]
- solace n.
- Comfort in grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety; also, that which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; relief. [OF. solas, ssoulaz, L. solacium, solatium, fr. solari to comfort, console. Cf. Console, v. t.]
- lichened a.
- Belonging to, or covered with, lichens.
- carven a.
- Wrought by carving; ornamented by carvings; carved.
- graven p. p.
- Carved. Graven image, an idol; an object of worship carved from wood, stone, etc.
- soothe v. t.
- To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
- thoroughfare n.
- A passage through; a passage from one street or opening to another; an unobstructed way open to the public; a public road; hence, a frequented street. [AS. þurhfaru.]
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- squalid a.
- Dirty through neglect; foul; filthy; extremely dirty. [L. squalidus, fr. squalere to be foul or filthy.]
- nowhere adv.
- Not anywhere; not in any place or state; as, the book is nowhere to be found. [AS. nahwær. See No, and Where.]
- coloured a.
- Having color; tinged; dyed; painted; stained.
- coldly adv.
- In a cold manner; without warmth, animation, or feeling; with indifference; calmly.
- lustreless a.
- Destitute of luster; dim; dull.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Cyclists 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, The Cyclists, in Sword Blades and Poppy Seed (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1020, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lowell-amy-sword-blades/the-cyclists.html, id L08202.
Form and metre
The Cyclists is 70 lines in 11 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 28 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 23% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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.
- 3 A---A bosomA · longer · mother · rotting · timeA
- 5 AABBA tapestriesA · mysteriesA · dreamB · streamB · broideriesA
- 6 AABBA treesA · japaneseA · skyB · flyB · breezeA
- 7 AA--A shrunkA · monkA · graven · heaven · sunkA
- 8 AABBA- sungA · flungA · queenB · screenB · unstrungA · a.m
- 9 ABB------A------ streetA · lampsB · lampsB · lies · river · black · it · one · another · feetA · ledges · sidewalks · sinister · midst · moving · nowhere
- 10 ---A-A-- window · cuts · round · nightA · city · brightA · lamps · coldly
- 11 A--A- moonA · lustreless · her · moonA · city
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Spread on the roadway, | 5 | ···/· |
| With open-blown jackets, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Like black, soaring pinions, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| They swoop down the hillside, | 6 | ····/· |
| The Cyclists. | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| Seeming dark-plumaged | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Birds, after carrion, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Careening and circling, | 7 | ˘/˘·/˘˘ |
| Over the dying | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Of England. | 3 | ·/˘ |
| She lies with her bosom | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Beneath them, no longer | 6 | ····/˘ |
| The Dominant Mother, | 6 | ·/˘˘/˘ |
| The Virile--but rotting | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Before time. | 3 | ··· |
| The smell of her, tainted, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Has bitten their nostrils. | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Exultant they hover, | 6 | ˘/˘·/˘ |
| And shadow the sun with | 6 | ·/···· |
| Foreboding. | 3 | ˘/˘ |
| What charm is yours, you faded old-world tapestries, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Of outworn, childish mysteries, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Vague pageants woven on a web of dream! | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And we, pushing and fighting in the turbid stream | 12 | ··/˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Of modern life, find solace in your tarnished broideries. | 13 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘·· |
| Old lichened halls, sun-shaded by huge cedar-trees, | 12 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘· |
| The layered branches horizontal stretched, like Japanese | 14 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘···˘/ |
| Dark-banded prints. Carven cathedrals, on a sky | 12 | ·/˘·/˘˘/˘··· |
| Of faintest colour, where the gothic spires fly | 11 | ·/˘/˘··/˘·· |
| And sway like masts, against a shifting breeze. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Worm-eaten pages, clasped in old brown vellum, shrunk | 12 | ·/˘/˘····/˘· |
| From over-handling, by some anxious monk. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Or Virgin's Hours, bright with gold and graven | 11 | ·/˘/˘····/˘ |
| With flowers, and rare birds, and all the Saints of Heaven, | 11 | ·/········/ |
| And Noah's ark stuck on Ararat, when all the world had sunk. | 15 | ·/˘···/˘······· |
| They soothe us like a song, heard in a garden, sung | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| By youthful minstrels, on the moonlight flung | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/·· |
| In cadences and falls, to ease a queen, | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Widowed and childless, cowering in a screen | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Of myrtles, whose life hangs with all its threads unstrung. | 12 | ·/˘········· |
| A London Thoroughfare. 2 A.M. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| They have watered the street, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| It shines in the glare of lamps, | 7 | ······· |
| Cold, white lamps, | 3 | ··· |
| And lies | 2 | ·· |
| Like a slow-moving river, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Barred with silver and black. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Cabs go down it, | 4 | ···· |
| One, | 1 | · |
| And then another. | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Between them I hear the shuffling of feet. | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Tramps doze on the window-ledges, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Night-walkers pass along the sidewalks. | 9 | ·/˘·˘/·/· |
| The city is squalid and sinister, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘˘ |
| With the silver-barred street in the midst, | 10 | ··/˘·˘···· |
| Slow-moving, | 3 | ·/˘ |
| A river leading nowhere. | 7 | ·/˘/˘/· |
| Opposite my window, | 6 | /˘˘·/˘ |
| The moon cuts, | 3 | ··· |
| Clear and round, | 3 | ··· |
| Through the plum-coloured night. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| She cannot light the city; | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| It is too bright. | 4 | ···· |
| It has white lamps, | 4 | ···· |
| And glitters coldly. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| I stand in the window and watch the moon. | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| She is thin and lustreless, | 7 | ······· |
| But I love her. | 4 | ···· |
| I know the moon, | 4 | ···· |
| And this is an alien city. | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
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.