Now I Am a Plant, a Weed....
Now I am a plant, a weed,Bending and swingingOn a rocky ledge;And now I am a long brown grassFluttering like flame;I am a reed;An old shell singingFor ever the same;A drift of sedge;A white, white stone;A bone;Until I passInto sand again,And spin and blowTo and fro, to and fro,On the edge of the seaIn the fading light—For the light fades.
But if you were to come you would not say:“She is not waiting here for me;She has forgotten.” Have we not in playDisguised ourselves as weed and stones and grassWhile the strange ships did passGently, gravely, leaving a curl of foamThat uncurled softly about our island home ...Bubbles of foam that glittered on the stoneLike rainbows? Look, darling! No, they are gone.And the white sails have melted into the sailing sky ...
Words in this poem
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- gravely adv.
- In a grave manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Now I Am a Plant, a Weed.... is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #59276; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Katherine Mansfield, Now I Am a Plant, a Weed...., in Poems (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59276, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mansfield-poems/now-i-am-a-plant-a-weed.html, id L27606.
Form and metre
Now I Am a Plant, a Weed.... is 28 lines in 2 stanzas.
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 ABCDEABECFFD-GG--- weedA · swingingB · ledgeC · grassD · flameE · reedA · singingB · sameE · sedgeC · stoneF · boneF · passD · again · blowG · froG · sea · light · fades
- 2 A-ABBCC--- sayA · me · playA · grassB · passB · foamC · homeC · stone · gone · sky
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Now I am a plant, a weed, | 7 | ······· |
| Bending and swinging | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| On a rocky ledge; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And now I am a long brown grass | 8 | ········ |
| Fluttering like flame; | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| I am a reed; | 4 | ···· |
| An old shell singing | 5 | ···/˘ |
| For ever the same; | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| A drift of sedge; | 4 | ···· |
| A white, white stone; | 4 | ···· |
| A bone; | 2 | ·· |
| Until I pass | 4 | ···· |
| Into sand again, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| And spin and blow | 4 | ···· |
| To and fro, to and fro, | 6 | ······ |
| On the edge of the sea | 6 | ······ |
| In the fading light— | 5 | ··/˘· |
| For the light fades. | 4 | ···· |
| But if you were to come you would not say: | 10 | ·········· |
| “She is not waiting here for me; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| She has forgotten.” Have we not in play | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Disguised ourselves as weed and stones and grass | 10 | ˘/˘/······ |
| While the strange ships did pass | 6 | ······ |
| Gently, gravely, leaving a curl of foam | 10 | /˘/˘/˘···· |
| That uncurled softly about our island home ... | 11 | ···/˘··//˘· |
| Bubbles of foam that glittered on the stone | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Like rainbows? Look, darling! No, they are gone. | 10 | ·/··/˘···· |
| And the white sails have melted into the sailing sky ... | 13 | ·····/˘···/˘· |
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.