In the Heart of the Woods I
The Heart of the woods, I hear it, beating, beating afar,In the glamour and gloom of the night, in the light of the rosy star,In the cold sweet voice of the bird, in the throb of the flower-softsea!...For the Heart of the woods is the Heart of the world and theHeart of Eternity,Ay, and the burning passionate Heart of the heart in you and me.
Love of my heart, love of the world, linking the golden moonWith the flowery moths that flutter thro' the scented leaves of June,And the mind of man with beauty, and youth with the dreaming nightOf stars and flowers and waters and breasts of glimmering white,And streaming hair of fragrant dusk and flying limbs of lovely light;
Life of me, life of me, shining in sun and cloud and wind,In the dark eyes of the fawn and the eyes of the hound behind,In the leaves that lie in the seed unsown, and the dream of thebabe unborn,O, flaming tides of my blood, as you flow thro' flower and rootand thorn,I feel you burning the boughs of night to kindle the fires of morn.
Soul of me, soul of me, yearning wherever a lavrock sings,Or the crimson gloom is winnowed by the whirr of wood-doves' wings,Or the spray of the foam-bow rustles in the white dawn of the moon,And mournful billows moan aloud, Come soon, soon, soon,Come soon, O Death with the Heart of love and the secret of the rune.
Heart of me, heart of me, heart of me, beating, beating afar,In the green gloom of the night, in the light of the rosy star,In the cold sweet voice of the bird, in the throb of the flower-softsea!...O, the Heart of the woods is the Heart of the world and theHeart of Eternity,Ay, and the burning passionate Heart of the heart in you and me.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- glamour n.
- A charm affecting the eye, making objects appear different from what they really are. [Scot. glamour, glamer; cf. Icel. glámeggdr one who is troubled with the glaucoma; or Icel. glam-s weakness of sight, glamour; glamr name of the moon, also of a ]
- throb v. i.
- To beat, or pulsate, with more than usual force or rapidity; to beat in consequence of agitation; to palpitate; -- said of the heart, pulse, etc. [OE. ; of uncertain origin; cf. Russ. trepete a trembling, and E. trepidation.]
- streaming a.
- Sending forth streams.
- babe n.
- An infant; a young child of either sex; a baby. [Cf. Ir. bab, baban, W. baban, maban.]
- unborn a.
- Not born; no yet brought into life; being still to appear; future.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- whirr v. i.
- To whirl round, or revolve, with a whizzing noise; to fly or more quickly with a buzzing or whizzing sound; to whiz.
- aloud adv.
- With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. [Pref. a- + loud.]
- rune n.
- A letter, or character, belonging to the written language of the ancient Norsemen, or Scandinavians; in a wider sense, applied to the letters of the ancient nations of Northern Europe in general. [AS. run a rune, a secret, a mystery; akin to Icel. run, OHG. & Goth. runa a secret, secret colloquy, G. & Dan. rune rune, and probably to Gr. 'ereyna^n to searc]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In the Heart of the Woods I is in the public domain. This text is taken from Collected Poems: Volume One, Project Gutenberg ebook #30501; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Alfred Noyes, In the Heart of the Woods I, in Collected Poems, Volume One (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #30501, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/noyes-collected/in-the-heart-of-the-woods-i.html, id L21389.
Form and metre
In the Heart of the Woods I is 31 lines in 5 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is AABBB, in 2 of the 5 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic trimeter.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 AA-BB-B afarA · starA · soft · seaB · theB · eternity · meB
- 2 AABBB moonA · juneA · nightB · whiteB · lightB
- 3 AA-B-BB windA · behindA · the · unbornB · root · thornB · mornB
- 4 AABBB singsA · wingsA · moonB · soonB · runeB
- 5 AA-BB-B afarA · starA · soft · seaB · theB · eternity · meB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The Heart of the woods, I hear it, beating, beating afar, | 14 | ········/˘/˘˘/ |
| In the glamour and gloom of the night, in the light of the rosy star, | 17 | ··/˘··········/˘· |
| In the cold sweet voice of the bird, in the throb of the flower-soft | 15 | ·············/· |
| sea!... | 1 | · |
| For the Heart of the woods is the Heart of the world and the | 14 | ·············· |
| Heart of Eternity, | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| Ay, and the burning passionate Heart of the heart in you and me. | 15 | ···/˘/˘········ |
| Love of my heart, love of the world, linking the golden moon | 14 | ········/˘·/˘· |
| With the flowery moths that flutter thro' the scented leaves of June, | 15 | ··/˘··/˘··/˘··· |
| And the mind of man with beauty, and youth with the dreaming night | 15 | ······/˘····/˘· |
| Of stars and flowers and waters and breasts of glimmering white, | 13 | ···/·/˘···/˘· |
| And streaming hair of fragrant dusk and flying limbs of lovely light; | 16 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘··/˘· |
| Life of me, life of me, shining in sun and cloud and wind, | 14 | ······/˘······ |
| In the dark eyes of the fawn and the eyes of the hound behind, | 15 | ··············· |
| In the leaves that lie in the seed unsown, and the dream of the | 15 | ··············· |
| babe unborn, | 3 | ·// |
| O, flaming tides of my blood, as you flow thro' flower and root | 14 | ·/˘········/·· |
| and thorn, | 2 | ·· |
| I feel you burning the boughs of night to kindle the fires of morn. | 16 | ···/˘·····/˘·/·· |
| Soul of me, soul of me, yearning wherever a lavrock sings, | 15 | ······/˘˘/˘·/˘· |
| Or the crimson gloom is winnowed by the whirr of wood-doves' wings, | 15 | ··/˘··/········ |
| Or the spray of the foam-bow rustles in the white dawn of the moon, | 16 | ·······/˘······· |
| And mournful billows moan aloud, Come soon, soon, soon, | 12 | ·/˘/˘·˘/···· |
| Come soon, O Death with the Heart of love and the secret of the rune. | 16 | ···········/˘··· |
| Heart of me, heart of me, heart of me, beating, beating afar, | 15 | ·········/˘/˘˘/ |
| In the green gloom of the night, in the light of the rosy star, | 15 | ············/˘· |
| In the cold sweet voice of the bird, in the throb of the flower-soft | 15 | ·············/· |
| sea!... | 1 | · |
| O, the Heart of the woods is the Heart of the world and the | 14 | ·············· |
| Heart of Eternity, | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| Ay, and the burning passionate Heart of the heart in you and me. | 15 | ···/˘/˘········ |
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.