The Watch in the Wood
When Death has laid her in his quietude,And dimmed the glow of her benignant star,Her tired limbs shall rest within a wood,In a green glade where oaks and beeches are,
Where the shy fawns, the pretty fawns, the deer,With mild brown eyes shall view her spirit's husk;The sleeping woman of her will appear,The maiden Dian shining through the dusk.
And, when the stars are white as twilight fails,And the green leaves are hushed, and the winds swoon,The calm pure thrilling throats of nightingalesShall hymn her sleeping beauty to the moon.
All the woods hushed--save for a dripping rose,All the woods dun--save where a glow-worm glows.
Brimming the quiet woods with holiness,The lone brown birds will hymn her till the dawn,The delicate, shy, dappled deer will pressSoft pitying muzzles on her swathed lawn.
The little pretty rabbits running by.Will pause among the dewy grass to peep,Their thudding hearts affrighted to espyThe maiden Dian lying there asleep.
Brown, lustrous, placid eyes of sylvan thingsWill wonder at the quiet in her face,While from the thorny branch the singer bringsBeauty and peace to that immortal place.
Until the grey dawn sets the woods astirThe pure birds' thrilling psalm will mourn for her.
Words in this poem
- quietude n.
- Rest; repose; quiet; tranquillity. Shelley. [L. quietudo: cf. F. quiétude.]
- benignant a.
- Kind; gracious; favorable. [LL. benignans, p. pr. of benignare, from L. benignus. See Benign.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- glade n.
- An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest. [Prob. of Scand. origin, and akin to glad, a.; cf. also W. golead, goleuad, a lighting, illumination, fr. goleu light, clear, bright, goleu fwlch glade, lit., a ]
- thrilling a.
- Causing a thrill; causing tremulous excitement; deeply moving; as, a thrilling romance.
- dripping n.
- A falling in drops, or the sound so made.
- brimming a.
- Full to the brim; overflowing.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- dappled a.
- Marked with spots of different shades of color; spotted; variegated; as, a dapple horse.
- pitying a.
- Expressing pity; as, a pitying eye, glance, or word.
- placid a.
- Pleased; contented; unruffied; undisturbed; serene; peaceful; tranquil; quiet; gentle. [L. placidus, originally, pleasing, mild, from placere to please: cf. F. placide. See Please.]
- astir adv.
- Stirring; in a state of activity or motion; out of bed. [Pref. a- + stir.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Watch in the Wood is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Story of a Round-House, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #40717; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Masefield, The Watch in the Wood, in The Story of a Round-House, and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #40717, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masefield-round-house/the-watch-in-the-wood.html, id L25024.
Form and metre
The Watch in the Wood is 28 lines in 8 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 4 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 quietude · starA · wood · areA
- 2 ABAB deerA · huskB · appearA · duskB
- 3 ABAB failsA · swoonB · nightingalesA · moonB
- 4 AA roseA · glowsA
- 5 ABAB holinessA · dawnB · pressA · lawnB
- 6 -A-A by · peepA · espy · asleepA
- 7 ABAB thingsA · faceB · bringsA · placeB
- 8 AA astirA · herA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When Death has laid her in his quietude, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| And dimmed the glow of her benignant star, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Her tired limbs shall rest within a wood, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| In a green glade where oaks and beeches are, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Where the shy fawns, the pretty fawns, the deer, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| With mild brown eyes shall view her spirit's husk; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The sleeping woman of her will appear, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| The maiden Dian shining through the dusk. | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| And, when the stars are white as twilight fails, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| And the green leaves are hushed, and the winds swoon, | 10 | ·········· |
| The calm pure thrilling throats of nightingales | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Shall hymn her sleeping beauty to the moon. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| All the woods hushed--save for a dripping rose, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| All the woods dun--save where a glow-worm glows. | 10 | ·········· |
| Brimming the quiet woods with holiness, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘˘ |
| The lone brown birds will hymn her till the dawn, | 10 | ·········· |
| The delicate, shy, dappled deer will press | 10 | ·/˘˘··˘··· |
| Soft pitying muzzles on her swathed lawn. | 10 | ·/˘˘/˘···· |
| The little pretty rabbits running by. | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| Will pause among the dewy grass to peep, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Their thudding hearts affrighted to espy | 10 | ·/˘·····/˘ |
| The maiden Dian lying there asleep. | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Brown, lustrous, placid eyes of sylvan things | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Will wonder at the quiet in her face, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| While from the thorny branch the singer brings | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Beauty and peace to that immortal place. | 10 | /˘····˘/˘· |
| Until the grey dawn sets the woods astir | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The pure birds' thrilling psalm will mourn for her. | 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.