In an Old Farmhouse
Outside the afterlight's lucent roseIs smiting the hills and brimming the valleys,And shadows are stealing across the snows;From the mystic gloom of the pineland alleys.Glamour of mingled night and dayOver the wide, white world has sway,And through their prisoning azure bars,Gaze the calm, cold eyes of the early stars.
But here, in this long, low-raftered room,Where the blood-red light is crouching and leaping,The fire that colors the heart of the gloomThe lost sunshine of old summers is keeping—The wealth of forests that held in feeMany a season's rare alchemy,And the glow and gladness without a nameThat dwells in the deeps of unstinted flame.
Gather we now round the opulent blazeWith the face that loves and the heart that rejoices,Dream we once more of the old-time days,Listen once more to the old-time voices!From the clutch of the cities and paths of the seaWe have come again to our own roof-tree,And forgetting the loves of the stranger landsWe yearn for the clasp of our kindred's hands.
There are tales to tell, there are tears to shed,There are children's flower-faces and women's sweet laughter;There's a chair left vacant for one who is deadWhere the firelight crimsons the ancient rafter;What reck we of the world that waitsWith care and clamor beyond our gates,We, with our own, in this witching light,Who keep our tryst with the past to-night?
Ho! how the elf-flames laugh in glee!Closer yet let us draw together,Holding our revel of memoryIn the guiling twilight of winter weather;Out on the waste the wind is chill,And the moon swings low o'er the western hill,But old hates die and old loves burn higherWith the wane and flash of the farmhouse fire.
Words in this poem
- lucent a.
- Shining; bright; resplendent. [L. lucens, p. pr. of lucere to shine, fr. lux, lucis, light.]
- brimming a.
- Full to the brim; overflowing.
- glamour n.
- A charm affecting the eye, making objects appear different from what they really are. [Scot. glamour, glamer; cf. Icel. glámeggdr one who is troubled with the glaucoma; or Icel. glam-s weakness of sight, glamour; glamr name of the moon, also of a ]
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- yearn v. t.
- To pain; to grieve; to vex. [Also earn, ern; probably a corruption of OE. ermen to grieve, AS. ierman, yrman, or geierman, geyrman, fr. earm wretched, poor; akin to D. & G. arm, Icel. armr,]
- rafter n.
- Originally, any rough and somewhat heavy piece of timber. Now, commonly, one of the timbers of a roof which are put on sloping, according to the inclination of the roof. See Illust. of Queen-post. [AS. ræfter; akin to E. raft, n. See Raft.]
- reck v. t.
- To make account of; to care for; to heed; to regard. [AS. reccan, remccan, to care for; akin to OS. rokian, OHG. ruochan, G. geruhen, Icel. rækja, also to E. reckon, rake an implement. See Rake, and cf. Reckon.]
- witching a.
- That witches or enchants; suited to enchantment or witchcraft; bewitching.
- tryst v. i.
- To mutually agree to meet at a certain place.
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- closer n.
- One who, or that which, closes; specifically, a boot closer. See under Boot.
- farmhouse n.
- A dwelling house on a farm; a farmer's residence.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In an Old Farmhouse 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, In an Old Farmhouse, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/in-an-old-farmhouse.html, id L29414.
Form and metre
In an Old Farmhouse is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCCDD. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 71%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABABCCDD roseA · valleysB · snowsA · alleysB · dayC · swayC · barsD · starsD
- 2 ABABCCDD roomA · leapingB · gloomA · keepingB · feeC · alchemyC · nameD · flameD
- 3 ABABCCDD blazeA · rejoicesB · daysA · voicesB · seaC · treeC · landsD · handsD
- 4 ABABCCDD shedA · laughterB · deadA · rafterB · waitsC · gatesC · lightD · nightD
- 5 ABABCCDD gleeA · togetherB · memoryA · weatherB · chillC · hillC · higherD · fireD
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 trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Outside the afterlight's lucent rose | 9 | //····/˘· |
| Is smiting the hills and brimming the valleys, | 11 | ·/˘···/˘·/˘ |
| And shadows are stealing across the snows; | 10 | ·/··/˘˘/·· |
| From the mystic gloom of the pineland alleys. | 12 | ··/˘······/˘ |
| Glamour of mingled night and day | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Over the wide, white world has sway, | 8 | ········ |
| And through their prisoning azure bars, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Gaze the calm, cold eyes of the early stars. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But here, in this long, low-raftered room, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Where the blood-red light is crouching and leaping, | 11 | ······/˘·/˘ |
| The fire that colors the heart of the gloom | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| The lost sunshine of old summers is keeping— | 11 | ··/···/˘·/˘ |
| The wealth of forests that held in fee | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Many a season's rare alchemy, | 9 | /˘·/˘·/˘˘ |
| And the glow and gladness without a name | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| That dwells in the deeps of unstinted flame. | 10 | ·········· |
| Gather we now round the opulent blaze | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| With the face that loves and the heart that rejoices, | 12 | ·········˘/˘ |
| Dream we once more of the old-time days, | 9 | ········· |
| Listen once more to the old-time voices! | 10 | /˘······/˘ |
| From the clutch of the cities and paths of the sea | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| We have come again to our own roof-tree, | 10 | ···˘/·/··· |
| And forgetting the loves of the stranger lands | 11 | ·˘/˘····/˘· |
| We yearn for the clasp of our kindred's hands. | 10 | ······//˘· |
| There are tales to tell, there are tears to shed, | 10 | ·········· |
| There are children's flower-faces and women's sweet laughter; | 13 | ··/˘//˘·/˘·/˘ |
| There's a chair left vacant for one who is dead | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Where the firelight crimsons the ancient rafter; | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘/˘ |
| What reck we of the world that waits | 8 | ········ |
| With care and clamor beyond our gates, | 9 | ···/˘··/· |
| We, with our own, in this witching light, | 9 | ··/···/˘· |
| Who keep our tryst with the past to-night? | 9 | ··/······ |
| Ho! how the elf-flames laugh in glee! | 8 | ········ |
| Closer yet let us draw together, | 9 | /˘····˘/˘ |
| Holding our revel of memory | 9 | /˘//˘·/˘˘ |
| In the guiling twilight of winter weather; | 11 | ··/˘/··/˘/˘ |
| Out on the waste the wind is chill, | 8 | ········ |
| And the moon swings low o'er the western hill, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But old hates die and old loves burn higher | 9 | ········/ |
| With the wane and flash of the farmhouse fire. | 10 | ·······/·/ |
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.