Divine Adventure
At times a youth (so whispered legend tells),Like Hylas, stoops to drinkBy forest-hidden brink,And fair hands draw him down to darkened wells;Fair hands that hold him fastWith laughter at the lastHave power to draw him lightly down to beIn elfin chambers under the gray sea.
And I, O men of Earth, I too,When dawn was at the dew,Was drawn as Hylas downward and beheldSpirits of youth and eld--Was swung down endless caverns to the deep,Saw fervid jewels sparkle in their sleep,Saw glad gnomes working in the dusty light,Saw great rocks crouching in the primal night.I was drawn down, and after many daysReturned with stiller feet to walk the upper ways.
Words in this poem
- brink n.
- The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge, as of a river or pit; a verge; a border; as, the brink of a chasm. Also Fig. [Dan. brink edge, verge; akin to Sw. brink declivity, hill, Icel. brekka; cf. LG. brink a grassy hill, W. bryn hill, bryncyn hillock.]
- elfin a.
- Relating to elves.
- fervid a.
- Very hot; burning; boiling. [L. fervidus, fr. fervere. See Fervent.]
- primal a.
- First; primary; original; chief. [LL. primalis, fr. L. primus the first. See Prime, a.]
- stiller n.
- One who stills, or quiets.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Divine Adventure is in the public domain. This text is taken from The man with the hoe, and other poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #67012; 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, Divine Adventure, in The Man with the Hoe, and Other Poems (1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #67012, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/markham-man-with-hoe/divine-adventure.html, id L24794.
Form and metre
Divine Adventure is 18 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 ABBACCDD tellsA · drinkB · brinkB · wellsA · fastC · lastC · beD · seaD
- 2 AABBCCDDEE tooA · dewA · beheldB · eldB · deepC · sleepC · lightD · nightD · daysE · waysE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| At times a youth (so whispered legend tells), | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Like Hylas, stoops to drink | 6 | ······ |
| By forest-hidden brink, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And fair hands draw him down to darkened wells; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Fair hands that hold him fast | 6 | ······ |
| With laughter at the last | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Have power to draw him lightly down to be | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| In elfin chambers under the gray sea. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And I, O men of Earth, I too, | 8 | ········ |
| When dawn was at the dew, | 6 | ······ |
| Was drawn as Hylas downward and beheld | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Spirits of youth and eld-- | 6 | /˘···· |
| Was swung down endless caverns to the deep, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Saw fervid jewels sparkle in their sleep, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Saw glad gnomes working in the dusty light, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Saw great rocks crouching in the primal night. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| I was drawn down, and after many days | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Returned with stiller feet to walk the upper ways. | 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.