Part IV: The End of the Quest
Like the dawn upon a dreamSlowly through the scented gloomCrept once more the ruddy gleamO'er the friendly nursery room.There, before our waking eyes,Large and ghostly, white and dim,Dreamed the Flower that never dies,Opening wide its rosy rim.
Spreading like a ghostly fan,Petals white as porcelain,There the Flower of Old JapanTold us we were home again;For a soft and curious lightSuddenly was o'er it shed.And we saw it was a whiteEnglish daisy, ringed with red.
Slowly, as a wavering mistWaned the wonder out of sight,To a sigh of amethyst,To a wraith of scented light.Flower and magic glass had gone;Near the clutching fire we satDreaming, dreaming, all alone,Each upon a furry mat.
While the firelight, red and clear,Fluttered in the black wet pane,It was very good to hearHowling winds and trotting rain.For we found at last we knewMore than all our fancy planned,All the fairy tales were true,And home the heart of fairyland.
Words in this poem
- nursery n.
- The act of nursing. [Cf. F. nourricerie.]
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
- amethyst
- A variety of crystallized quartz, of a purple or bluish violet color, of different shades. It is much used as a jeweler's stone. [F. ametiste, amatiste, F. améthyste, L. amethystus, fr. Gr. Mead.]
- wraith n.
- An apparition of a person in his exact likeness, seen before death, or a little after; hence, an apparition; a specter; a vision; an unreal image. [Scot. wraith, warth; probably originally, a guardian angel, from Icel. vörthr a warden, guardian, akin to E. ward. See Ward a guard.]
- furry a.
- Covered with fur; dressed in fur. [From Fur.]
- pane n.
- The narrow edge of a hammer head. See Peen. [F. panne.]
- fairyland n.
- The imaginary land or abode of fairies.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Part IV: The End of the Quest 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, Part IV: The End of the Quest, in Collected Poems, Volume One (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #30501, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/noyes-collected/part-iv-the-end-of-the-quest.html, id L21409.
Form and metre
Part IV: The End of the Quest is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 ABABCDCD dreamA · gloomB · gleamA · roomB · eyesC · dimD · diesC · rimD
- 2 AAAABCBC fanA · porcelainA · japanA · againA · lightB · shedC · whiteB · redC
- 3 ABAB-C-C mistA · sightB · amethystA · lightB · gone · satC · alone · matC
- 4 ABABCDCD clearA · paneB · hearA · rainB · knewC · plannedD · trueC · fairylandD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Like the dawn upon a dream | 7 | ······· |
| Slowly through the scented gloom | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Crept once more the ruddy gleam | 7 | ····/˘· |
| O'er the friendly nursery room. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| There, before our waking eyes, | 7 | ···//˘· |
| Large and ghostly, white and dim, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Dreamed the Flower that never dies, | 7 | ··/·/˘· |
| Opening wide its rosy rim. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Spreading like a ghostly fan, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Petals white as porcelain, | 7 | /˘··/˘˘ |
| There the Flower of Old Japan | 7 | ··/··˘/ |
| Told us we were home again; | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| For a soft and curious light | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Suddenly was o'er it shed. | 7 | /˘˘···· |
| And we saw it was a white | 7 | ······· |
| English daisy, ringed with red. | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Slowly, as a wavering mist | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Waned the wonder out of sight, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| To a sigh of amethyst, | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| To a wraith of scented light. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Flower and magic glass had gone; | 7 | /·/˘··· |
| Near the clutching fire we sat | 7 | ··/˘/·· |
| Dreaming, dreaming, all alone, | 7 | /˘/˘·˘/ |
| Each upon a furry mat. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| While the firelight, red and clear, | 8 | ········ |
| Fluttered in the black wet pane, | 7 | /˘····· |
| It was very good to hear | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Howling winds and trotting rain. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| For we found at last we knew | 7 | ······· |
| More than all our fancy planned, | 7 | ···//˘· |
| All the fairy tales were true, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And home the heart of fairyland. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
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.