Two Taverns
I remember how I layOn a bank a summer day,Peering into weed and flower:Watched a poppy all one hour;Watched it till the air grew chillIn the darkness of the hill;Till I saw a wild bee dartOut of the cold to the poppy’s heart;Saw the petals gently spin,And shut the little lodger in.Then I took the quiet roadTo my own secure abode.All night long his tavern hung;Now it rested, now it swung;I asleep in steadfast tower,He asleep in stirring flower;In our hearts the same delightIn the hushes of the night;Over us both the same dear careAs we slumbered unaware.
When I see a workingman with mouths to feed,Up, day after day, in the dark before the dawn,And coming home, night after night, through the dusk,Swinging forward like some fierce silent animal,I see a man doomed to roll a huge stone up an endless steep.He strains it onward inch by stubborn inch,Crouched always in the shadow of the rock....See where he crouches, twisted, cramped, misshapen!He lifts for their life;The veins knot and darken--Blood surges into his face....Now he loses--now he wins--Now he loses--loses--(God of my soul!)He digs his feet into the earth--There’s a moment of terrified effort.Will the huge stone break his hold,And crush him as it plunges to the gulf?
The silent struggle goes on and on,Like two contending in a dream.
Words in this poem
- lodger n.
- One who, or that which, lodges; one who occupies a hired room in another's house.
- abode n.
- Act of waiting; delay. [OE. abad, abood, fr. abiden to abide. See Abide. For the change of vowel, cf. abode, imp. of abide.]
- unaware a.
- Not aware; not noticing; giving no heed; thoughtless; inattentive.
- workingman n.
- A laboring man; a man who earns his daily support by manual labor.
- crouched a.
- Marked with the sign of the cross. Crouched friar. See Crutched friar, under Crutched.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Two Taverns 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, Two Taverns, 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/two-taverns.html, id L24800.
Form and metre
Two Taverns is 39 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 51% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGBBHHII layA · dayA · flowerB · hourB · chillC · hillC · dartD · heartD · spinE · inE · roadF · abodeF · hungG · swungG · towerB · flowerB · delightH · nightH · careI · unawareI
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I remember how I lay | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| On a bank a summer day, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Peering into weed and flower: | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Watched a poppy all one hour; | 9 | ·˘·/˘··/˘ |
| Watched it till the air grew chill | 7 | ······· |
| In the darkness of the hill; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Till I saw a wild bee dart | 7 | ······· |
| Out of the cold to the poppy’s heart; | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Saw the petals gently spin, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| And shut the little lodger in. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Then I took the quiet road | 7 | ····/˘· |
| To my own secure abode. | 7 | ···˘/˘/ |
| All night long his tavern hung; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Now it rested, now it swung; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| I asleep in steadfast tower, | 8 | ·˘/·/·/˘ |
| He asleep in stirring flower; | 8 | ·˘/·/˘/˘ |
| In our hearts the same delight | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| In the hushes of the night; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Over us both the same dear care | 8 | ········ |
| As we slumbered unaware. | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| When I see a workingman with mouths to feed, | 11 | ····/˘˘···· |
| Up, day after day, in the dark before the dawn, | 12 | ············ |
| And coming home, night after night, through the dusk, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Swinging forward like some fierce silent animal, | 11 | /˘/˘···/˘/˘ |
| I see a man doomed to roll a huge stone up an endless steep. | 15 | ············/˘· |
| He strains it onward inch by stubborn inch, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Crouched always in the shadow of the rock.... | 10 | ·/···/···· |
| See where he crouches, twisted, cramped, misshapen! | 11 | ···/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| He lifts for their life; | 5 | ····· |
| The veins knot and darken-- | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Blood surges into his face.... | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Now he loses--now he wins-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Now he loses--loses--(God of my soul!) | 10 | ··/˘/˘···· |
| He digs his feet into the earth-- | 8 | ········ |
| There’s a moment of terrified effort. | 10 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Will the huge stone break his hold, | 7 | ······· |
| And crush him as it plunges to the gulf? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The silent struggle goes on and on, | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Like two contending in a dream. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
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.