The Ackerman Steppe
Across sea-meadows measureless I go,My wagon sinking under grass so tallThe flowery petals in foam on me fall,And blossom-isles float by I do not know.No pathway can the deepening twilight show;I seek the beckoning stars which sailors call,And watch the clouds. What lies there brightening all?The Dneister's, the steppe-ocean's evening glow!
The silence! I can hear far flight of cranes--So far the eyes of eagle could not reach--And bees and blossoms speaking each to each;The serpent slipping adown grassy lanes;From my far home if word could come to me!--Yet none will come. On, o'er the meadow-sea!
Words in this poem
- measureless a.
- Without measure; unlimited; immeasurable.
- pathway n.
- A footpath; a beaten track; any path or course. Also used figuratively.
- adown adv.
- From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [OE. adun, adoun, adune. AS. of dune off the hill. See Down.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Ackerman Steppe is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets from the Crimea, Project Gutenberg ebook #27069, the Edna Worthley Underwood translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Adam Mickiewicz, The Ackerman Steppe, in Sonnets from the Crimea (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27069, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mickiewicz-crimea/the-ackerman-steppe.html, id L15528.
Form and metre
The Ackerman Steppe is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 7% 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 ABBAABBA goA · tallB · fallB · knowA · showA · callB · allB · glowA
- 2 ABBACC cranesA · reachB · eachB · lanesA · meC · seaC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Across sea-meadows measureless I go, | 10 | ˘/·/·/˘˘·· |
| My wagon sinking under grass so tall | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| The flowery petals in foam on me fall, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And blossom-isles float by I do not know. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| No pathway can the deepening twilight show; | 10 | ·/···/˘/·· |
| I seek the beckoning stars which sailors call, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And watch the clouds. What lies there brightening all? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The Dneister's, the steppe-ocean's evening glow! | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| The silence! I can hear far flight of cranes-- | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| So far the eyes of eagle could not reach-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And bees and blossoms speaking each to each; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The serpent slipping adown grassy lanes; | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘//˘· |
| From my far home if word could come to me!-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Yet none will come. On, o'er the meadow-sea! | 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.