In the Days of the Golden Rod
Across the meadow in brooding shadowI walk to drink of the autumn's wine—The charm of story, the artist's glory,To-day on these silvering hills is mine;On height, in hollow, where'er I follow,By mellow hillside and searing sod,Its plumes uplifting, in light winds drifting,I see the glimmer of golden-rod.
In this latest comer the vanished summerHas left its sunshine the world to cheer,And bids us remember in late SeptemberWhat beauty mates with the passing year.The days that are fleetest are still the sweetest,And life is near to the heart of God,And the peace of heaven to earth is givenIn this wonderful time of the golden-rod.
Words in this poem
- comer n.
- One who comes, or who has come; one who has arrived, and is present. All comers, all who come, or offer, to take part in a matter, especially in a contest or controversy.
- 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.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In the Days of the Golden Rod 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 the Days of the Golden Rod, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/in-the-days-of-the-golden-rod.html, id L29402.
Form and metre
In the Days of the Golden Rod is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 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-B-B shadow · wineA · glory · mineA · follow · sodB · drifting · rodB
- 2 -A-A-B-B summer · cheerA · september · yearA · sweetest · godB · given · rodB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Across the meadow in brooding shadow | 10 | ˘/·/··/˘/· |
| I walk to drink of the autumn's wine— | 9 | ······/˘· |
| The charm of story, the artist's glory, | 10 | ···/˘·/˘/˘ |
| To-day on these silvering hills is mine; | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| On height, in hollow, where'er I follow, | 11 | ···/˘˘˘/·/˘ |
| By mellow hillside and searing sod, | 9 | ·/˘/··/˘· |
| Its plumes uplifting, in light winds drifting, | 10 | ··/·˘···/˘ |
| I see the glimmer of golden-rod. | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| In this latest comer the vanished summer | 11 | ··/˘/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Has left its sunshine the world to cheer, | 9 | ···/····· |
| And bids us remember in late September | 11 | ···˘/˘··˘/˘ |
| What beauty mates with the passing year. | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| The days that are fleetest are still the sweetest, | 11 | ····/˘···/˘ |
| And life is near to the heart of God, | 9 | ········· |
| And the peace of heaven to earth is given | 9 | ····/···/ |
| In this wonderful time of the golden-rod. | 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.