In an Old Town Garden
Shut from the clamor of the streetBy an old wall with lichen grown,It holds apart from jar and fretA peace and beauty all its own.
The freshness of the springtime rainsAnd dews of morning linger here;It holds the glow of summer noonsAnd ripest twilights of the year.
Above its bloom the evening starsLook down at closing of the day,And in its sweet and shady walksWinds spent with roaming love to stray,
Upgathering to themselves the breathOf wide-blown roses white and red,The spice of musk and lavenderAlong its winding alleys shed.
Outside are shadeless, troubled streetsAnd souls that quest for gold and gain,Lips that have long forgot to smileAnd hearts that burn and ache with pain.
But here is all the sweet of dreams,The grace of prayer, the boon of rest,The spirit of old songs and lovesDwells in this garden blossom-blest.
Here would I linger for a space,And walk herein with memory;The world will pass me as it mayAnd hope will minister to me.
Words in this poem
- springtime n.
- The season of spring; springtide.
- shadeless a.
- Being without shade; not shaded.
- ache n.
- A name given to several species of plants; as, smallage, wild celery, parsley. Holland. [F. ache, L. apium parsley.]
- boon n.
- A prayer or petition. [OE. bone, boin, a petition, fr. Icel. b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, AS. b, and perh. to E. ban; but influenced by F. bon good, fr. L. bonus. Ban, Bounty.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In an Old Town Garden 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 Town Garden, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/in-an-old-town-garden.html, id L29428.
Form and metre
In an Old Town Garden is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 -A-A street · grownA · fret · ownA
- 2 -A-A rains · hereA · noons · yearA
- 3 -A-A stars · dayA · walks · strayA
- 4 -A-A breath · redA · lavender · shedA
- 5 -A-A streets · gainA · smile · painA
- 6 -A-A dreams · restA · loves · blestA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Shut from the clamor of the street | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| By an old wall with lichen grown, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| It holds apart from jar and fret | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| A peace and beauty all its own. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The freshness of the springtime rains | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| And dews of morning linger here; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| It holds the glow of summer noons | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And ripest twilights of the year. | 8 | ···/···· |
| Above its bloom the evening stars | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Look down at closing of the day, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And in its sweet and shady walks | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Winds spent with roaming love to stray, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Upgathering to themselves the breath | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
| Of wide-blown roses white and red, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The spice of musk and lavender | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Along its winding alleys shed. | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Outside are shadeless, troubled streets | 8 | //·/˘/˘· |
| And souls that quest for gold and gain, | 8 | ········ |
| Lips that have long forgot to smile | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And hearts that burn and ache with pain. | 8 | ········ |
| But here is all the sweet of dreams, | 8 | ········ |
| The grace of prayer, the boon of rest, | 8 | ········ |
| The spirit of old songs and loves | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Dwells in this garden blossom-blest. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Here would I linger for a space, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And walk herein with memory; | 8 | ··˘/·/˘˘ |
| The world will pass me as it may | 8 | ········ |
| And hope will minister to me. | 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.