Lost Lands
I mind me once in boyhood when the mistSwirled round me, ash of pearl and amethyst,How, in an unknown, difficult, high place,I pushed the green boughs backward from my face,And with a fire along the blood, a cry,Rode out upon a headland in the sky.
I know not in what world it was—MirakOr Algol, or some further Zodiac!I looked down on a sea of fog below;Saw strange lands rise, strange waters furl and flow,Breaking on newly lifted reefs and shores—New Africas, new Indies, new Azores—Lands that allured me to illustrious deed,Past Roland’s fame, and all his knightly breed—Fringes of lands no foot had ever found,Where billows climbed and burst without a sound;While further still, on dim untraveled seas,Gleamed lost Atlantis, lost Hesperides.
Words in this poem
- boyhood n.
- The state of being a boy; the time during which one is a boy. [Boy + -hood.]
- amethyst
- A variety of crystallized quartz, of a purple or bluish violet color, of different shades. It is much used as a jeweler's stone. [F. ametiste, amatiste, F. améthyste, L. amethystus, fr. Gr. Mead.]
- rode n.
- Redness; complexion. [See Rud.]
- algol n.
- A fixed star, in Medusa's head, in the constellation Perseus, remarkable for its periodic variation in brightness. [Ar. al-gh destruction, calamity, fr. ghala to take suddenly, destroy.]
- furl v. t.
- To draw up or gather into close compass; to wrap or roll, as a sail, close to the yard, stay, or mast, or, as a flag, close to or around its staff, securing it there by a gasket or line. Totten. [Contr. fr. furdle, fr. fardel bundle: cf. F. ferler to furl, OF. fardeler to pack. See Furdle, Fardel, and cf. Farl.]
- knightly a.
- Of or pertaining to a knight; becoming a knight; chivalrous; as, a knightly combat; a knightly spirit. [AS. cnihtlic boyish.]
- untraveled a.
- Not traveled; not trodden by passengers; as, an untraveled forest. [Written also untravelled.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lost Lands is in the public domain. This text is taken from Lincoln & other poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #54527; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edwin Markham, Lost Lands, in Lincoln and Other Poems (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54527, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/markham-lincoln/lost-lands.html, id L10830.
Form and metre
Lost Lands is 18 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 11% 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 AABBCC mistA · amethystA · placeB · faceB · cryC · skyC
- 2 AABBCCDDEE-- mirakA · zodiacA · belowB · flowB · shoresC · azoresC · deedD · breedD · foundE · soundE · seas · hesperides
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I mind me once in boyhood when the mist | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Swirled round me, ash of pearl and amethyst, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| How, in an unknown, difficult, high place, | 10 | ···˘//˘˘·· |
| I pushed the green boughs backward from my face, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And with a fire along the blood, a cry, | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| Rode out upon a headland in the sky. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I know not in what world it was—Mirak | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Or Algol, or some further Zodiac! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| I looked down on a sea of fog below; | 10 | ·········· |
| Saw strange lands rise, strange waters furl and flow, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Breaking on newly lifted reefs and shores— | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| New Africas, new Indies, new Azores— | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘·˘/ |
| Lands that allured me to illustrious deed, | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Past Roland’s fame, and all his knightly breed— | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Fringes of lands no foot had ever found, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Where billows climbed and burst without a sound; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| While further still, on dim untraveled seas, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Gleamed lost Atlantis, lost Hesperides. | 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.