Homing Swallows
Swift swallows sailing from the Spanish main,O rain-birds racing merrily awayFrom hill-tops parched with heat and sultry plainOf wilting plants and fainting flowers, say--
When at the noon-hour from the chapel schoolThe children dash and scamper down the dale,Scornful of teacher’s rod and binding ruleForever broken and without avail,
Do they still stop beneath the giant treeTo gather locusts in their childish greed,And chuckle when they break the pods to seeThe golden powder clustered round the seed?
Words in this poem
- scamper v. i.
- To run with speed; to run or move in a quick, hurried manner; to hasten away. [OF. escamper to escape, to save one's self; L. ex from + campus the field (sc. of battle). See Camp, and cf. Decamp, Scamp, n., Shamble, v. t.]
- greed n.
- An eager desire or longing; greediness; as, a greed of gain. [Akin to Goth. grdus hunger, Icel. graedhr. sq. root34. See Greedy.]
- chuckle v. t.
- To call, as a hen her chickens; to cluck. [From lst Chuck.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Homing Swallows is in the public domain. This text is taken from Harlem shadows, Project Gutenberg ebook #64989; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Claude McKay, Homing Swallows, in Harlem Shadows (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #64989, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mckay-harlem-shadows/homing-swallows.html, id L01344.
Form and metre
Homing Swallows is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABAB mainA · awayB · plainA · sayB
- 2 ABAB schoolA · daleB · ruleA · availB
- 3 ABAB treeA · greedB · seeA · seedB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Swift swallows sailing from the Spanish main, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| O rain-birds racing merrily away | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| From hill-tops parched with heat and sultry plain | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of wilting plants and fainting flowers, say-- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| When at the noon-hour from the chapel school | 10 | ····/··/˘· |
| The children dash and scamper down the dale, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Scornful of teacher’s rod and binding rule | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Forever broken and without avail, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Do they still stop beneath the giant tree | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To gather locusts in their childish greed, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And chuckle when they break the pods to see | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The golden powder clustered round the seed? | 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.