The Plowman
His furrows are darkening into the hollow,Lightly behind him the blackbirds follow—By quick little journeys they follow and whistle.Now a gossamer ship breaks away to the blue(Who stands by the railing and waves adieu?)All night it was moored to a thistle.
Who knows the glad business afoot on the by-way?Who know the bold hopes sent adrift on the skyway?
Words in this poem
- gossamer n.
- A fine, filmy substance, like cobwebs, floating in the air, in calm, clear weather, especially in autumn. It is seen in stubble fields and on furze or low bushes, and is formed by small spiders. [OE. gossomer, gossummer, gosesomer, perh. for goose summer, from its downy appearance, or perh. for God's summer, cf. G. mariengarr gossamer, properly Mary's ya]
- adrift adv.
- Floating at random; in a drifting condition; at the mercy of wind and waves. Also fig. [Pref. a- (for on) + drift.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Plowman 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, The Plowman, in Lincoln and Other Poems (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54527, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/markham-lincoln/the-plowman.html, id L10825.
Form and metre
The Plowman is 8 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%). 70% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.0 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic 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.
- 1 AABCCB hollowA · followA · whistleB · blueC · adieuC · thistleB
- 2 AA wayA · skywayA
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| His furrows are darkening into the hollow, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘···/˘ |
| Lightly behind him the blackbirds follow— | 10 | /˘····/˘/˘ |
| By quick little journeys they follow and whistle. | 12 | ··/˘/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Now a gossamer ship breaks away to the blue | 11 | ··/˘··˘/··· |
| (Who stands by the railing and waves adieu?) | 10 | ····/˘··˘/ |
| All night it was moored to a thistle. | 10 | ·····˘··/˘ |
| Who knows the glad business afoot on the by-way? | 12 | ····/˘˘/···· |
| Who know the bold hopes sent adrift on the skyway? | 12 | ······˘/··/· |
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.