Down Stream
Comrades, up! Let us row down stream in this first rare dawnlight,While far in the clear north-west the late moon whitens and wanes;Before us the sun will rise, deep-purpling headland and islet,It is well to meet him thus, with the life astir in our veins!
The wakening birds will sing for us in the woods wind-shaken,And the solitude of the hills will be broken by hymns to the light,As we sweep past drowsing hamlets, still feathered by dreams of slumber,And leave behind us the shadows that fell with the falling of night.
The young day's strength is ours in sinew and thew and muscle,We are filled and thrilled with the spirit that dwells in the waste and wold,Glamor of wind and water, charm of the wildernesses—Oh, the dear joy of it, greater than human hearts can hold!
While the world's tired children sleep we bend to our oars with facesSet in our eager gladness towards the morning's gate;Lo, 'tis the sweet of the day! On, comrades mine, for beyond usAll its dower of beauty, its glory and wonder wait.
Words in this poem
- islet n.
- A little island. [OF. islette (cf. F. îlot), dim. of isle.]
- astir adv.
- Stirring; in a state of activity or motion; out of bed. [Pref. a- + stir.]
- wakening n.
- The act of one who wakens; esp., the act of ceasing to sleep; an awakening.
- sinew n.
- A tendon or tendonous tissue. See Tendon. [OE. sinewe, senewe, AS. sinu, seonu; akin to D. zenuw, OHG. senawa, G. sehne, Icel. sin, Sw. sena, Dan. sene; cf. Skr. snava. sq. root290.]
- thew n.
- Manner; custom; habit; form of behavior; qualities of mind; disposition; specifically, good qualities; virtues.
- 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Down Stream 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, Down Stream, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/down-stream.html, id L29388.
Form and metre
Down Stream is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. 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 -A-A dawnlight · wanesA · islet · veinsA
- 2 -A-A shaken · lightA · slumber · nightA
- 3 -A-A muscle · woldA · wildernesses · holdA
- 4 -A-A faces · gateA · us · waitA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Comrades, up! Let us row down stream in this first rare dawnlight, | 14 | /············· |
| While far in the clear north-west the late moon whitens and wanes; | 14 | ··········/˘·· |
| Before us the sun will rise, deep-purpling headland and islet, | 15 | ········/˘/˘·/˘ |
| It is well to meet him thus, with the life astir in our veins! | 15 | ··········˘/·/· |
| The wakening birds will sing for us in the woods wind-shaken, | 14 | ·/˘·········/˘ |
| And the solitude of the hills will be broken by hymns to the light, | 17 | ··/˘······/˘····· |
| As we sweep past drowsing hamlets, still feathered by dreams of slumber, | 16 | ······/˘·/˘···/˘ |
| And leave behind us the shadows that fell with the falling of night. | 16 | ······/·····/˘·· |
| The young day's strength is ours in sinew and thew and muscle, | 14 | ·····/·/˘···/˘ |
| We are filled and thrilled with the spirit that dwells in the waste and wold, | 15 | ·······/······· |
| Glamor of wind and water, charm of the wildernesses— | 12 | /˘···/˘···/˘ |
| Oh, the dear joy of it, greater than human hearts can hold! | 14 | ······/˘·/˘··· |
| While the world's tired children sleep we bend to our oars with faces | 15 | ···//˘····/··/˘ |
| Set in our eager gladness towards the morning's gate; | 12 | ··//˘/˘··/˘· |
| Lo, 'tis the sweet of the day! On, comrades mine, for beyond us | 15 | ········/······ |
| All its dower of beauty, its glory and wonder wait. | 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.