Echo Dell
In a lone valley fair and far,Where many sweet beguilements are,I know a spot to lag and dreamThrough damask morns and noons agleam;For feet fall lightly on the fernAnd twilight is a wondrous thing,When the winds blow from some far bourneBeyond the hill rims westering;There echoes ring as if a throngOf fairies hid from mortal eyesSent laughter back in spirit guiseAnd song as the pure soul of song;Oh, 'tis a spot to love right well,This lonely, witching Echo Dell!
Even the winds an echo know,Elusive, faint, such as might blowFrom wandering elf-land bugles far,Beneath an occidental star;And I have thought the blue bells lentA subtle music to my ear,And that the pale wild roses bentTo harken sounds I might not hear.The tasselled fir trees softly croonThe fabled lore of elder days.And through the shimmering eastern hazeFloats slowly up the mellow moon;Come, heart o' mine, for love must dwellIn whispering, witching Echo Dell.
Words in this poem
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- agleam adv.
- Gleaming; as, faces agleam. Lowell. [Pref. a- + gleam.]
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- bourne n.
- A stream or rivulet; a burn. [OE. burne, borne, AS. burna; akin to OS. brunno spring, G. born, brunnen, OHG. prunno, Goth. brunna, Icel. brunnr, and perh. to Gr. burn, v., because the source]
- westering a.
- Passing to the west.
- witching a.
- That witches or enchants; suited to enchantment or witchcraft; bewitching.
- dell n.
- A small, retired valley; a ravine. [AS. del, akin to E. dale; cf. D. delle, del, low ground. See Dale.]
- elusive a.
- Tending to elude; using arts or deception to escape; adroitly escaping or evading; eluding the grasp; fallacious.
- croon v. i.
- To make a continuous hollow moan, as cattle do when in pain.
- shimmering n.
- A gleam or glimmering.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Echo Dell 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, Echo Dell, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/echo-dell.html, id L29389.
Form and metre
Echo Dell is 28 lines in 2 stanzas of 14 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCDCDEFFEGG. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AABBCDCDEFFEGG farA · areA · dreamB · agleamB · fernC · thingD · bourneC · westeringD · throngE · eyesF · guiseF · songE · wellG · dellG
- 2 AABBCDCDEFFEGG knowA · blowA · farB · starB · lentC · earD · bentC · hearD · croonE · daysF · hazeF · moonE · dwellG · dellG
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| In a lone valley fair and far, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Where many sweet beguilements are, | 8 | ·/······ |
| I know a spot to lag and dream | 8 | ········ |
| Through damask morns and noons agleam; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| For feet fall lightly on the fern | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And twilight is a wondrous thing, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| When the winds blow from some far bourne | 8 | ········ |
| Beyond the hill rims westering; | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| There echoes ring as if a throng | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of fairies hid from mortal eyes | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Sent laughter back in spirit guise | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And song as the pure soul of song; | 8 | ········ |
| Oh, 'tis a spot to love right well, | 8 | ········ |
| This lonely, witching Echo Dell! | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Even the winds an echo know, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Elusive, faint, such as might blow | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| From wandering elf-land bugles far, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Beneath an occidental star; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| And I have thought the blue bells lent | 8 | ········ |
| A subtle music to my ear, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And that the pale wild roses bent | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To harken sounds I might not hear. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The tasselled fir trees softly croon | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The fabled lore of elder days. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And through the shimmering eastern haze | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Floats slowly up the mellow moon; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Come, heart o' mine, for love must dwell | 8 | ········ |
| In whispering, witching Echo Dell. | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
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.