The Island
If I had a ship,I’d sail my ship,I’d sail my shipThrough Eastern seas;Down to a beach where the slow waves thunder—The green curls over and the white falls under—Boom! Boom! Boom!On the sun-bright sand.Then I’d leave my ship and I’d land,And climb the steep white sand,And climb to the trees,The six dark trees,The coco-nut trees on the cliff’s green crown—Hands and kneesTo the coco-nut trees,Face to the cliff as the stones patter down,Up, up, up, staggering, stumbling,Round the corner where the rock is crumbling,Round this shoulder,Over this boulder,Up to the top where the six trees stand. . . .
And there would I rest, and lie,My chin in my hands, and gazeAt the dazzle of sand below,And the green waves curling slow,And the grey-blue distant hazeWhere the sea goes up to the sky. . . .
And I’d say to myself as I looked so lazily down at the sea:“There’s nobody else in the world, and the world was made for me.”
Words in this poem
- patter v. i.
- To strike with a quick succession of slight, sharp sounds; as, pattering rain or hail; pattering feet. [Freq. of pat to strike gently.]
- boulder n.
- A large stone, worn smooth or rounded by the action of water; a large pebble. [Cf. Sw. bullra to roar, rattle, Dan. buldre, dial. Sw. bullersteen larger kind of pebbles; perh. akin to E. bellow.]
- dazzle v. t.
- To overpower with light; to confuse the sight of by brilliance of light. [Freq. of daze.]
- nobody n.
- No person; no one; not anybody. [No, a. + body.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Island is in the public domain. This text is taken from When We Were Very Young, Project Gutenberg ebook #70271; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: A. A. Milne, The Island, in When We Were Very Young (1924), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70271, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/milne-when-we-were-very-young/the-island.html, id L27191.
Form and metre
The Island is 29 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 55% of the lines.
See other poems in rhyming couplets.
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 AAABCC-DDDBBEBBEFFGGD shipA · shipA · shipA · seasB · thunderC · underC · boom · sandD · landD · sandD · treesB · treesB · crownE · kneesB · treesB · downE · stumblingF · crumblingF · shoulderG · boulderG · standD
- 2 ABCCBA lieA · gazeB · belowC · slowC · hazeB · skyA
- 3 AA seaA · meA
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| If I had a ship, | 5 | ····· |
| I’d sail my ship, | 4 | ···· |
| I’d sail my ship | 4 | ···· |
| Through Eastern seas; | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Down to a beach where the slow waves thunder— | 10 | ········/˘ |
| The green curls over and the white falls under— | 10 | ·········· |
| Boom! Boom! Boom! | 3 | ··· |
| On the sun-bright sand. | 5 | ····· |
| Then I’d leave my ship and I’d land, | 8 | ········ |
| And climb the steep white sand, | 6 | ······ |
| And climb to the trees, | 5 | ····· |
| The six dark trees, | 4 | ···· |
| The coco-nut trees on the cliff’s green crown— | 10 | ·/········ |
| Hands and knees | 3 | ··· |
| To the coco-nut trees, | 6 | ··/··· |
| Face to the cliff as the stones patter down, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Up, up, up, staggering, stumbling, | 9 | ···/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Round the corner where the rock is crumbling, | 10 | ··/˘····/˘ |
| Round this shoulder, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Over this boulder, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Up to the top where the six trees stand. . . . | 9 | ········· |
| And there would I rest, and lie, | 7 | ······· |
| My chin in my hands, and gaze | 7 | ······· |
| At the dazzle of sand below, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| And the green waves curling slow, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And the grey-blue distant haze | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Where the sea goes up to the sky. . . . | 8 | ········ |
| And I’d say to myself as I looked so lazily down at the sea: | 16 | ·····/····/˘···· |
| “There’s nobody else in the world, and the world was made for me.” | 15 | ·/············· |
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.