The Rovers
Over the fields we go. through the sweets of the purple clover,That letters a message for us as for every vagrant rover;Before us the dells are abloom, and a leaping brook calls after,Feeling its kinship with us in lore of dreams and laughter.
Out of the valleys of moonlight elfin voices are calling;Down from the misty hills faint, far greetings are falling;Whisper the grasses to us, murmuring gleeful and airy,Knowing us pixy-led, seeking the haunts of faery.
The wind is our joyful comrade wherever our free feet wander,Over the tawny wolds to the meres and meadows yonder;The mild-eyed stars go with us, or the rain so swiftly flying,Racing us over the wastes where the hemlocks and pines are sighing.
Across the upland dim, down through the beckoning hollow—Oh, we go too far and fast for the feet of care to follow!The gypsy fire in our hearts for the wilderness wide and luring;Other loves may fail but this is great and enduring.
Other delights may pall, but the joy of the open never;The charm of the silent places must win and hold us forever;Bondage of walls we leave with never a glance behind us.Under the lucent sky the delights of the rover shall find us.
Words in this poem
- rover n.
- One who practices robbery on the seas; a pirate. [D. roover a robber. See Rove, v. i.]
- abloom adv.
- In or into bloom; in a blooming state. Masson. [Pref. a- + bloom.]
- kinship n.
- Family relationship.
- elfin a.
- Relating to elves.
- gleeful a.
- Merry; gay; joyous.
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- lucent a.
- Shining; bright; resplendent. [L. lucens, p. pr. of lucere to shine, fr. lux, lucis, light.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Rovers 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, The Rovers, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/the-rovers.html, id L29390.
Form and metre
The Rovers is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. 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 AABB cloverA · roverA · afterB · laughterB
- 2 AABB callingA · fallingA · airyB · faeryB
- 3 AABB wanderA · yonderA · flyingB · sighingB
- 4 AABB hollowA · followA · luringB · enduringB
- 5 AABB neverA · foreverA · usB · usB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Over the fields we go. through the sweets of the purple clover, | 14 | ··········/˘/˘ |
| That letters a message for us as for every vagrant rover; | 16 | ·/˘·/˘····/˘/˘/˘ |
| Before us the dells are abloom, and a leaping brook calls after, | 16 | ······˘/··/˘···· |
| Feeling its kinship with us in lore of dreams and laughter. | 14 | /˘·/········/˘ |
| Out of the valleys of moonlight elfin voices are calling; | 15 | ···/˘·/·/˘/˘·/˘ |
| Down from the misty hills faint, far greetings are falling; | 13 | ···/˘···/˘·/˘ |
| Whisper the grasses to us, murmuring gleeful and airy, | 14 | /˘·/˘··/˘/˘·/˘ |
| Knowing us pixy-led, seeking the haunts of faery. | 12 | /····/˘····· |
| The wind is our joyful comrade wherever our free feet wander, | 16 | ···//˘/·˘/˘/··/˘ |
| Over the tawny wolds to the meres and meadows yonder; | 13 | ··/˘·····/·/˘ |
| The mild-eyed stars go with us, or the rain so swiftly flying, | 15 | ···········/˘/˘ |
| Racing us over the wastes where the hemlocks and pines are sighing. | 15 | /˘······/····/˘ |
| Across the upland dim, down through the beckoning hollow— | 13 | ˘/·/˘····/˘/˘ |
| Oh, we go too far and fast for the feet of care to follow! | 15 | ·············/˘ |
| The gypsy fire in our hearts for the wilderness wide and luring; | 15 | ·/˘/·/···/˘··/˘ |
| Other loves may fail but this is great and enduring. | 13 | /˘········˘/˘ |
| Other delights may pall, but the joy of the open never; | 14 | /˘˘/·······/˘/ |
| The charm of the silent places must win and hold us forever; | 16 | ····/˘/˘·····˘/˘ |
| Bondage of walls we leave with never a glance behind us. | 13 | /˘·····/····· |
| Under the lucent sky the delights of the rover shall find us. | 16 | ···/˘··˘/··/˘··· |
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.