Dillard Sissman
The buzzards wheel slowlyIn wide circles, in a skyFaintly hazed as from dust from the road.And a wind sweeps through the pasture where I lieBeating the grass into long waves.My kite is above the wind,Though now and then it wobbles,Like a man shaking his shoulders;And the tail streams out momentarily,Then sinks to rest.And the buzzards wheel and wheel,Sweeping the zenith with wide circlesAbove my kite. And the hills sleep.And a farm house, white as snow,Peeps from green trees—far away.And I watch my kite,For the thin moon will kindle herself ere long,Then she will swing like a pendulum dialTo the tail of my kite.A spurt of flame like a water-dragonDazzles my eyes—I am shaken as a banner!
Words in this poem
- momentarily adv.
- Every moment; from moment to moment. Shenstone.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dillard Sissman is in the public domain. This text is taken from Spoon River Anthology, Project Gutenberg ebook #1280; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edgar Lee Masters, Dillard Sissman, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/dillard-sissman.html, id L07892.
Form and metre
Dillard Sissman is 22 lines in a single stanza. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 73%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 27% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 -A-A-----------B--B--- slowly · skyA · road · lieA · waves · wind · wobbles · shoulders · momentarily · rest · wheel · circles · sleep · snow · away · kiteB · long · dial · kiteB · dragon · eyes · banner
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The buzzards wheel slowly | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| In wide circles, in a sky | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Faintly hazed as from dust from the road. | 9 | /˘······· |
| And a wind sweeps through the pasture where I lie | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| Beating the grass into long waves. | 8 | /˘······ |
| My kite is above the wind, | 7 | ······· |
| Though now and then it wobbles, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Like a man shaking his shoulders; | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| And the tail streams out momentarily, | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Then sinks to rest. | 4 | ···· |
| And the buzzards wheel and wheel, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Sweeping the zenith with wide circles | 9 | /˘·/˘··/˘ |
| Above my kite. And the hills sleep. | 8 | ········ |
| And a farm house, white as snow, | 7 | ······· |
| Peeps from green trees—far away. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| And I watch my kite, | 5 | ····· |
| For the thin moon will kindle herself ere long, | 11 | ·····/˘˘/·· |
| Then she will swing like a pendulum dial | 11 | ······/˘˘/˘ |
| To the tail of my kite. | 6 | ······ |
| A spurt of flame like a water-dragon | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| Dazzles my eyes— | 4 | /˘·· |
| I am shaken as a banner! | 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.