A Request
When I am deadI would that ye make my bedOn that low-lying, windy waste by the sea,Where the silvery grasses rustle and lisp;There, where the crispFoam-flakes shall fly over me,And murmurs creepFrom the ancient heart of the deep,Lulling me ever, I shall most sweetly sleep.While the eerie sea-folk croonOn the long dim shore by the light of a waning moon.
I shall not hearClamor of young life anear,Voices of gladness to stir an unrest;Only the wandering mists of the seaShall companion me;Only the wind in its questShall come where I lie,Or the rain from the brooding skyWith furtive footstep shall pass me by,And never a dream of the earthShall break on my slumber with lure of an out-lived mirth.
Words in this poem
- rustle v. i.
- To make a quick succession of small sounds, like the rubbing or moving of silk cloth or dry leaves. [AS. hristlan to rustle; or cf. Sw. rusta to stir, make a riot, or E. rush, v.]
- lisp v. i.
- To pronounce the sibilant letter s imperfectly; to give s and z the sound of th; -- a defect common among children. [OE. lispen, lipsen, AS. wlisp stammering, lisping; akin to D. & OHG. lispen to lisp, G. lispeln, Sw. läspa, Dan. lespe.]
- 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,]
- eerie a.
- Serving to inspire fear, esp. a dread of seeing ghosts; wild; weird; as, eerie stories. [Scotch, fr. AS. earh timid.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- croon v. i.
- To make a continuous hollow moan, as cattle do when in pain.
- waning n.
- The act or process of waning, or decreasing.
- anear v. t.
- To near; to approach.
- unrest n.
- Want of rest or repose; unquietness; sleeplessness; uneasiness; disquietude.
- furtive a.
- Stolen; obtained or characterized by stealth; sly; secret; stealthy; as, a furtive look. Prior. [L. furtivus, fr. furtum theft, fr. fur thief, akin to ferre to bear: cf. F. furtif. See Fertile.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Request 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 Request, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/a-request.html, id L29415.
Form and metre
A Request is 22 lines in 2 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 deadA · bedA · seaB · lispC · crispC · meB · creepD · deepD · sleepD · croonE · moonE
- 2 AABCCBDDDEE hearA · anearA · unrestB · seaC · meC · questB · lieD · skyD · byD · earthE · mirthE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When I am dead | 4 | ···· |
| I would that ye make my bed | 7 | ······· |
| On that low-lying, windy waste by the sea, | 11 | ···/˘/˘···· |
| Where the silvery grasses rustle and lisp; | 10 | ··/˘/˘/˘·· |
| There, where the crisp | 4 | ···· |
| Foam-flakes shall fly over me, | 7 | ······· |
| And murmurs creep | 4 | ·/˘· |
| From the ancient heart of the deep, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Lulling me ever, I shall most sweetly sleep. | 10 | /˘·/···/˘· |
| While the eerie sea-folk croon | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| On the long dim shore by the light of a waning moon. | 13 | ··········/˘· |
| I shall not hear | 4 | ···· |
| Clamor of young life anear, | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Voices of gladness to stir an unrest; | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| Only the wandering mists of the sea | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| Shall companion me; | 5 | ·˘/˘· |
| Only the wind in its quest | 7 | /˘····· |
| Shall come where I lie, | 5 | ····· |
| Or the rain from the brooding sky | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With furtive footstep shall pass me by, | 9 | ·/˘/····· |
| And never a dream of the earth | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Shall break on my slumber with lure of an out-lived mirth. | 13 | ····/˘······· |
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.