Pastorals IV
LO, as a tree, whose wintry twigsDrink in the sun with fibrous joy,And down into its dampest rootsThrills quickened with the draught of life,I wake unto the dawn, and leave my griefs to drowse.
I rise and drink the fresh sweet air:Each draught a future bud of Spring;Each glance of blue a birth of green;I will not mimic yonder oakThat dallies with dead leaves ev’n while the primrose peeps.
But full of these warm-whispering beams,Like Memnon in his mother’s eye,—Aurora! when the statue stoneMoaned soft to her pathetic touch,—My soul shall own its parent in the founts of day!
And ever in the recurring light,True to the primal joy of dawn,Forget its barren griefs; and ayeLike aspens in the faintest breezeTurn all its silver sides and tremble into song.
Words in this poem
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
- drowse v. i.
- To sleep imperfectly or unsoundly; to slumber; to be heavy with sleepiness; to doze. [AS. dr, dr, to sink, become slow or inactive; cf. OD. droosen to be sleepy, fall asleep, LG. dr, druusken, to slumber, fall down with a noise; prob, akin to AS.]
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- memnon n.
- A celebrated Egyptian statue near Thebes, said to have the property of emitting a harplike sound at sunrise.
- aurora n.
- The rising light of the morning; the dawn of day; the redness of the sky just before the sun rises. [L. aurora, for ausosa, akin to Gr. ushas, and E. east.]
- pathetic a.
- Expressing or showing anger; passionate. [L. patheticus, Gr. pathétique. See Pathos.]
- 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,]
- primal a.
- First; primary; original; chief. [LL. primalis, fr. L. primus the first. See Prime, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Pastorals IV 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 IV, in Modern Love, and Other Poems (1851–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1381, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/meredith-poems/pastorals-iv.html, id L13154.
Form and metre
Pastorals IV is 20 lines in 4 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%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.0 syllables. 30% 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| LO, as a tree, whose wintry twigs | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Drink in the sun with fibrous joy, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And down into its dampest roots | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thrills quickened with the draught of life, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I wake unto the dawn, and leave my griefs to drowse. | 12 | ············ |
| I rise and drink the fresh sweet air: | 8 | ········ |
| Each draught a future bud of Spring; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Each glance of blue a birth of green; | 8 | ········ |
| I will not mimic yonder oak | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| That dallies with dead leaves ev’n while the primrose peeps. | 12 | ·/˘······/·· |
| But full of these warm-whispering beams, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Like Memnon in his mother’s eye,— | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Aurora! when the statue stone | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Moaned soft to her pathetic touch,— | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| My soul shall own its parent in the founts of day! | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| And ever in the recurring light, | 8 | ·/··˘/˘· |
| True to the primal joy of dawn, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Forget its barren griefs; and aye | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Like aspens in the faintest breeze | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Turn all its silver sides and tremble into song. | 12 | ···/˘··/˘··· |
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.