Gratitude
I thank thee, friend, for the beautiful thoughtThat in words well chosen thou gavest to me,Deep in the life of my soul it has wroughtWith its own rare essence to ever imbue me,To gleam like a star over devious ways,To bloom like a flower on the drearest days—Better such gift from thee to meThan gold of the hills or pearls of the sea.
For the luster of jewels and gold may depart.And they have in them no life of the giver,But this gracious gift from thy heart to my heartShall witness to me of thy love forever;Yea, it shall always abide with meAs a part of my immortality;For a beautiful thought is a thing divine,So I thank thee, oh, friend, for this gift of thine.
Words in this poem
- thank n.
- A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
- devious a.
- Out of a straight line; winding; varying from directness; as, a devious path or way. [L. devius; de + via way. See Viaduct.]
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
- giver n.
- One who gives; a donor; a bestower; a grantor; one who imparts or distributes.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Gratitude 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, Gratitude, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/gratitude.html, id L29421.
Form and metre
Gratitude is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%).
See other poems in anapaestic 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 ABABCCBB thoughtA · meB · wroughtA · meB · waysC · daysC · meB · seaB
- 2 A-A---BB departA · giver · heartA · forever · me · immortality · divineB · thineB
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I thank thee, friend, for the beautiful thought | 10 | ······/˘˘· |
| That in words well chosen thou gavest to me, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Deep in the life of my soul it has wrought | 10 | ·········· |
| With its own rare essence to ever imbue me, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘/· |
| To gleam like a star over devious ways, | 11 | ·······/˘˘· |
| To bloom like a flower on the drearest days— | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Better such gift from thee to me | 8 | /˘······ |
| Than gold of the hills or pearls of the sea. | 10 | ·········· |
| For the luster of jewels and gold may depart. | 12 | ··/˘·/˘···˘/ |
| And they have in them no life of the giver, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| But this gracious gift from thy heart to my heart | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Shall witness to me of thy love forever; | 11 | ·/˘·····˘/˘ |
| Yea, it shall always abide with me | 9 | ···/·˘/·· |
| As a part of my immortality; | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| For a beautiful thought is a thing divine, | 11 | ··/˘˘····˘/ |
| So I thank thee, oh, friend, for this gift of thine. | 11 | ··········· |
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.