Memory Pictures
A wide-spring meadow in a rosy dawnBedropt with virgin buds; an orient skyFleeced with a dappled cloud but half withdrawn;A mad wind blowing by,O'er slopes of rippling grass and glens apart;A brackened path to a wild-woodland placeA limpid pool with a fair, laughing faceMirrored within its heart.
An ancient garden brimmed with summer sunUpon a still and slumberous afternoon;Old walks and pleasances with shadows spunWhere honeyed odors swoon;A velvet turf with blossoms garlanded;A hedge of Mary-lilies white and tall;And, shining out against a lichened wall,A stately-golden head.
An autumn hilltop in the sunset hue,Pine boughs uptossed against the crystal west,And, girdled with the twilight dim and blue,A valley peace-possessed ;A high-sprung heaven stained with colors rare,A sheen of moonrise on the sea afar,And, bright and soft as any glimmering star,Eyes holy as a prayer.
Words in this poem
- fleeced a.
- Furnished with a fleece; as, a sheep is well fleeced.
- dappled a.
- Marked with spots of different shades of color; spotted; variegated; as, a dapple horse.
- slumberous a.
- Inviting slumber; soporiferous.
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
- honeyed a.
- Covered with honey.
- lichened a.
- Belonging to, or covered with, lichens.
- hilltop n.
- The top of a hill.
- sheen v. i.
- To shine; to glisten.
- moonrise n.
- The rising of the moon above the horizon; also, the time of its rising.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Memory Pictures 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, Memory Pictures, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/memory-pictures.html, id L29416.
Form and metre
Memory Pictures is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDDC. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 ABABCDDC dawnA · skyB · withdrawnA · byB · apartC · placeD · faceD · heartC
- 2 ABABCDDC sunA · afternoonB · spunA · swoonB · garlandedC · tallD · wallD · headC
- 3 ABABCDDC hueA · westB · blueA · possessedB · rareC · afarD · starD · prayerC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A wide-spring meadow in a rosy dawn | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Bedropt with virgin buds; an orient sky | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·· |
| Fleeced with a dappled cloud but half withdrawn; | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| A mad wind blowing by, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| O'er slopes of rippling grass and glens apart; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| A brackened path to a wild-woodland place | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| A limpid pool with a fair, laughing face | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Mirrored within its heart. | 6 | /˘···· |
| An ancient garden brimmed with summer sun | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Upon a still and slumberous afternoon; | 11 | ·····/˘˘·˘/ |
| Old walks and pleasances with shadows spun | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Where honeyed odors swoon; | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| A velvet turf with blossoms garlanded; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| A hedge of Mary-lilies white and tall; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And, shining out against a lichened wall, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| A stately-golden head. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| An autumn hilltop in the sunset hue, | 10 | ·/˘/···/·· |
| Pine boughs uptossed against the crystal west, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And, girdled with the twilight dim and blue, | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| A valley peace-possessed ; | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| A high-sprung heaven stained with colors rare, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| A sheen of moonrise on the sea afar, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And, bright and soft as any glimmering star, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Eyes holy as a prayer. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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.