A Day in the Open
Ho, a dayWhereon we may up and away,With a fetterless wind that is out on the downs,And there piping a call to the fallow and shore,Where the sea evermoreSurgeth over the gray reef, and drownsThe fierce rocks with white foam;It is ours with untired feet to roamWhere the pines in green gloom of wide vales make their murmuring home,Or the pools that the sunlight hath kissedMirror back a blue sky that is winnowed of cloud and of mist!
Ho, a dayWhereon we may up and awayThrough the orient distances hazy and pied,Hand in hand with the gypsying breezes that blowHere and there, to and fro,O'er the meadows all rosy and wide,Where a lyric of flowersIs sweet-sung to the frolicking hours,And the merry buds letter the foot-steps of tip-toeing showers;We may climb where the steep is besetWith a turbulent waterfall, loving to clamor and fret!
Ho, a dayWhereon we may up and awayTo the year that is holding her cup of wild wine;If we drink we shall be as the gods of the woldIn the blithe days of oldElate with a laughter divine;Yea, and then we shall knowThe rare magic of solitude soWe shall nevermore wish its delight and its dreams to forego,And our blood will upstir and upleapWith a fellowship splendid, a gladness impassioned and deep!
Words in this poem
- whereon adv.
- On which; -- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
- fetterless a.
- Free from fetters. Marston.
- piping a.
- Playing on a musical pipe. [From Pipe, v.]
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
- hazy a.
- Thick with haze; somewhat obscured with haze; not clear or transparent. [From Haze, n.]
- 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,]
- wold n.
- A wood; a forest. [OE. wold, wald, AS. weald, wald, a wood, forest; akin to OFries. & OS. wald, D. woud, G. wald, Icel. völlr, a field, and probably to Gr. va a garden, inclosure.]
- blithe a.
- Gay; merry; sprightly; joyous; glad; cheerful; as, a blithe spirit. [AS. bli blithe, kind; akin to Goth. blei kind, Icel. bli mild, gentle, Dan. & Sw. blid gentle, D. blijd blithe, OHG. blidi kind, blithe.]
- elate a.
- Lifted up; raised; elevated. [L. elatus elevated, fig., elated, proud (the figure, perh., being borrowed from a prancing horse); e out + latus (used as p. p. of ferre to bear), for tlatus, a]
- nevermore adv.
- Never again; at no time hereafter. Testament of Love. Tyndale.
- forego v. t.
- To quit; to relinquish; to leave. [See Forgo.]
- upstir n.
- Insurrection; commotion; disturbance. Sir J. Cheke.
- impassioned p. p.
- Actuated or characterized by passion or zeal; showing warmth of feeling; ardent; animated; excited; as, an impassioned orator or discourse.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Day in the Open is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Watchman and Other Poems (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1917; Toronto: McClelland, Goodchild and Stewart, 1916), Internet Archive; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: L. M. Montgomery, A Day in the Open, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/a-day-in-the-open.html, id L29392.
Form and metre
A Day in the Open is 33 lines in 3 stanzas of 11 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCCBDDDEE. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
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 AABCCBDDDEE dayA · awayA · downsB · shoreC · evermoreC · drownsB · foamD · roamD · homeD · kissedE · mistE
- 2 AABCCBDDDEE dayA · awayA · piedB · blowC · froC · wideB · flowersD · hoursD · showersD · besetE · fretE
- 3 AABCCBDDDEE dayA · awayA · wineB · woldC · oldC · divineB · knowD · soD · foregoD · upleapE · deepE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ho, a day | 3 | ··· |
| Whereon we may up and away, | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| With a fetterless wind that is out on the downs, | 12 | ··/˘˘······· |
| And there piping a call to the fallow and shore, | 12 | ··/˘····/··· |
| Where the sea evermore | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Surgeth over the gray reef, and drowns | 8 | /˘······ |
| The fierce rocks with white foam; | 6 | ······ |
| It is ours with untired feet to roam | 9 | ··/······ |
| Where the pines in green gloom of wide vales make their murmuring home, | 14 | ···········/˘· |
| Or the pools that the sunlight hath kissed | 9 | ·····/··· |
| Mirror back a blue sky that is winnowed of cloud and of mist! | 15 | /˘······/······ |
| Ho, a day | 3 | ··· |
| Whereon we may up and away | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| Through the orient distances hazy and pied, | 11 | ··/˘·/˘/˘·· |
| Hand in hand with the gypsying breezes that blow | 11 | ·····/˘/˘·· |
| Here and there, to and fro, | 6 | ······ |
| O'er the meadows all rosy and wide, | 9 | ··/··/˘·· |
| Where a lyric of flowers | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| Is sweet-sung to the frolicking hours, | 8 | ·····/˘/ |
| And the merry buds letter the foot-steps of tip-toeing showers; | 15 | ··/˘·/˘·····/˘/ |
| We may climb where the steep is beset | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| With a turbulent waterfall, loving to clamor and fret! | 14 | ··/˘/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Ho, a day | 3 | ··· |
| Whereon we may up and away | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| To the year that is holding her cup of wild wine; | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| If we drink we shall be as the gods of the wold | 12 | ············ |
| In the blithe days of old | 6 | ······ |
| Elate with a laughter divine; | 8 | ˘/··/˘˘/ |
| Yea, and then we shall know | 6 | ······ |
| The rare magic of solitude so | 9 | ··/˘·/˘·· |
| We shall nevermore wish its delight and its dreams to forego, | 15 | ··/˘···˘/····˘/ |
| And our blood will upstir and upleap | 9 | ·/··/˘··· |
| With a fellowship splendid, a gladness impassioned and deep! | 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.