Rain Along Shore
Wan white mists upon the sea,East wind harping mournfullyAll the sunken reefs along,Wail and heart-break in its song,But adown the placid bayFisher-folk keep holiday.
All the deeps beyond the barCall and murmur from afar,'Plaining of a mighty woeWhere the great ships come and go,But adown the harbor grayFisher-folk keep holiday.
When the cloudy heavens frown,And the sweeping rain comes down,Boats at anchorage must bideIn despite of time or tide;Making merry as they mayFisher-folk keep holiday.
Now is time for jest and songAll the idle shore along,Now is time for wooing dear,Maidens cannot choose but hear;Daffing toil and care awayFisher-folk keep holiday.
Oh, the fretted reefs may wail,Every man has furled his sail!Oh, the wind may moan in fear,Every lad is with his dear!Mirth and laughter have their way,Fisher-folk keep holiday.
Words in this poem
- harping a.
- Pertaining to the harp; as, harping symphonies.
- adown adv.
- From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [OE. adun, adoun, adune. AS. of dune off the hill. See Down.]
- placid a.
- Pleased; contented; unruffied; undisturbed; serene; peaceful; tranquil; quiet; gentle. [L. placidus, originally, pleasing, mild, from placere to please: cf. F. placide. See Please.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- 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.]
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
- jest n.
- A deed; an action; a gest. [OE. jeste, geste, deed, action, story, tale, OF. geste, LL. gesta, orig., exploits, neut. pl. from L. gestus, p. p. of gerere to bear, carry, accomplish, perfor]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Rain Along Shore 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, Rain Along Shore, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/rain-along-shore.html, id L29359.
Form and metre
Rain Along Shore is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCC. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 AABBCC seaA · mournfullyA · alongB · songB · bayC · holidayC
- 2 AABBCC barA · afarA · woeB · goB · grayC · holidayC
- 3 AABBCC frownA · downA · bideB · tideB · mayC · holidayC
- 4 AABBCC songA · alongA · dearB · hearB · awayC · holidayC
- 5 AABBCC wailA · sailA · fearB · dearB · wayC · holidayC
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Wan white mists upon the sea, | 7 | ······· |
| East wind harping mournfully | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| All the sunken reefs along, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Wail and heart-break in its song, | 7 | ······· |
| But adown the placid bay | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Fisher-folk keep holiday. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| All the deeps beyond the bar | 7 | ······· |
| Call and murmur from afar, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| 'Plaining of a mighty woe | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Where the great ships come and go, | 7 | ······· |
| But adown the harbor gray | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Fisher-folk keep holiday. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| When the cloudy heavens frown, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| And the sweeping rain comes down, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Boats at anchorage must bide | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| In despite of time or tide; | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Making merry as they may | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Fisher-folk keep holiday. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Now is time for jest and song | 7 | ······· |
| All the idle shore along, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Now is time for wooing dear, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Maidens cannot choose but hear; | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Daffing toil and care away | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Fisher-folk keep holiday. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Oh, the fretted reefs may wail, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Every man has furled his sail! | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| Oh, the wind may moan in fear, | 7 | ······· |
| Every lad is with his dear! | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| Mirth and laughter have their way, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Fisher-folk keep holiday. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
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.