Pastorals III
NOW standing on this hedgeside path,Up which the evening winds are blowingWildly from the lingering linesOf sunset o’er the hills;Unaided by one motive thought,My spirit with a strange impulsionRises, like a fledgling,Whose wings are not mature, but stillSupported by its strong desireBeats up its native air and leavesThe tender mother’s nest.
Great music under heaven is made,And in the track of rushing darknessComes the solemn shape of night,And broods above the earth.A thing of Nature am I now,Abroad, without a sense or feelingBorn not of her bosom;Content with all her truths and fates;Ev’n as yon strip of grass that bowsAbove the new-born violet bloom,And sings with wood and field.
Words in this poem
- impulsion n.
- The act of impelling or driving onward, or the state of being impelled; the sudden or momentary agency of a body in motion on another body; also, the impelling force, or impulse. [L. impulsio: cf. F. impulsion. See Impel.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Pastorals III is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems — Volume 1, Project Gutenberg ebook #1381; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: George Meredith, Pastorals III, in Modern Love, and Other Poems (1851–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1381, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/meredith-poems/pastorals-iii.html, id L13153.
Form and metre
Pastorals III is 22 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 41% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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.
- 2 ------A--A- made · darkness · night · earth · now · feeling · bosomA · fates · bows · bloomA · field
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| NOW standing on this hedgeside path, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Up which the evening winds are blowing | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Wildly from the lingering lines | 8 | /˘··/˘˘· |
| Of sunset o’er the hills; | 6 | ·/···· |
| Unaided by one motive thought, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| My spirit with a strange impulsion | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Rises, like a fledgling, | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Whose wings are not mature, but still | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Supported by its strong desire | 9 | ˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| Beats up its native air and leaves | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The tender mother’s nest. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Great music under heaven is made, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| And in the track of rushing darkness | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Comes the solemn shape of night, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And broods above the earth. | 6 | ······ |
| A thing of Nature am I now, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Abroad, without a sense or feeling | 9 | ˘/·····/˘ |
| Born not of her bosom; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Content with all her truths and fates; | 8 | /˘······ |
| Ev’n as yon strip of grass that bows | 8 | ········ |
| Above the new-born violet bloom, | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| And sings with wood and field. | 6 | ······ |
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.