From the Hand of a Child
One day a child ran after me in the street,To give me a half-blown rose, a fire-white rose,Its stem all warm yet from the tight-shut hand.The little gift seemed somehow more to meThan all men strive for in the turbid towns,Than all they hoard up through a long wild life.And as I breathed the heart-breath of the flower,The Youth of Earth broke on me like a dawn,And I was with the wide-eyed wondering things,Back in the far forgotten buried time.A lost world came back softly with the rose:I saw a glad host follow with lusty criesDiana flying with her maidens white,Down the long reaches of the laureled hills.Above the sea I saw a wreath of girls,Fading to air in far-off poppy fields.I saw a blithe youth take the open road:His thoughts ran on before him merrily;Sometimes he dipped his feet in stirring brooks;At night he slept upon a bed of boughs.
This in my soul. Then suddenly a shape,A spectre wearing yet the mask of dustJostled against me as he passed, and lo!The jarring city and the drift of feetSurged back upon me like the grieving sea.
Words in this poem
- somehow adv.
- In one way or another; in some way not yet known or designated; by some means; as, the thing must be done somehow; he lives somehow.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- diana n.
- The daughter of Jupiter and Latona; a virgin goddess who presided over hunting, chastity, and marriage; -- identified with the Greek goddess Artemis. [L. Diana.]
- laureled a.
- Crowned with laurel, or with a laurel wreath; laureate.
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- blithe a.
- Gay; merry; sprightly; joyous; glad; cheerful; as, a blithe spirit. [AS. bli blithe, kind; akin to Goth. blei kind, Icel. bli mild, gentle, Dan. & Sw. blid gentle, D. blijd blithe, OHG. blidi kind, blithe.]
- spectre n.
- Something preternaturally visible; an apparition; a ghost; a phantom. [F. spectre, fr. L. spectrum an appearance, image, specter, fr. specere to look. See Spy, and cf. Spectrum.]
- jarring a.
- Shaking; disturbing; discordant. [See Jar.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
From the Hand of a Child 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, From the Hand of a Child, 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/from-the-hand-of-a-child.html, id L24803.
Form and metre
From the Hand of a Child is 25 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 -A--------A--------- street · roseA · hand · me · towns · life · flower · dawn · things · time · roseA · cries · white · hills · girls · fields · road · merrily · brooks · boughs
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 |
|---|---|---|
| One day a child ran after me in the street, | 11 | ··········· |
| To give me a half-blown rose, a fire-white rose, | 11 | ········/·· |
| Its stem all warm yet from the tight-shut hand. | 10 | ·········· |
| The little gift seemed somehow more to me | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| Than all men strive for in the turbid towns, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Than all they hoard up through a long wild life. | 10 | ·········· |
| And as I breathed the heart-breath of the flower, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| The Youth of Earth broke on me like a dawn, | 10 | ·········· |
| And I was with the wide-eyed wondering things, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Back in the far forgotten buried time. | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| A lost world came back softly with the rose: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I saw a glad host follow with lusty cries | 11 | ·····/˘·/˘· |
| Diana flying with her maidens white, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Down the long reaches of the laureled hills. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Above the sea I saw a wreath of girls, | 10 | ·········· |
| Fading to air in far-off poppy fields. | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| I saw a blithe youth take the open road: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| His thoughts ran on before him merrily; | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Sometimes he dipped his feet in stirring brooks; | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| At night he slept upon a bed of boughs. | 10 | ·········· |
| This in my soul. Then suddenly a shape, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| A spectre wearing yet the mask of dust | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Jostled against me as he passed, and lo! | 10 | /˘········ |
| The jarring city and the drift of feet | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Surged back upon me like the grieving sea. | 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.