The Loom of Years
In the light of the silent stars that shine on the struggling sea,In the weary cry of the wind and the whisper of flower and tree,Under the breath of laughter, deep in the tide of tears,I hear the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years.
The leaves of the winter wither and sink in the forest mouldTo colour the flowers of April with purple and white and gold:Light and scent and music die and are born againIn the heart of a grey-haired woman who wakes in a world of pain.
The hound, the fawn and the hawk, and the doves that croon and coo,We are all one woof of the weaving and the one warp threads us through,One flying cloud on the shuttle that carries our hopes and fearsAs it goes thro' the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years.
The crosiers of the fern, and the crown, the crown of the rose,Pass with our hearts to the Silence where the wings of music close,Pass and pass to the Timeless that never a moment mars,Pass and pass to the Darkness that made the suns and stars.
Has the soul gone out in the Darkness? Is the dust sealed from sight?Ah, hush, for the woof of the ages returns thro' the warp of the night!Never that shuttle loses one thread of our hopes and fears,As It comes thro' the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years.
O, woven in one wide Loom thro' the throbbing weft of the whole,One in spirit and flesh, one in body and soul,The leaf on the winds of autumn, the bird in its hour to die,The heart in its muffled anguish, the sea in its mournful cry,
One with the flower of a day, one with the withered moon,One with the granite mountains that melt into the noon,One with the dream that triumphs beyond the light of the spheres,We come from the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years.
Words in this poem
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
- croon v. i.
- To make a continuous hollow moan, as cattle do when in pain.
- timeless a.
- Done at an improper time; unseasonable; untimely.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Loom of Years 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, The Loom of Years, in Collected Poems, Volume One (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #30501, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/noyes-collected/the-loom-of-years.html, id L21388.
Form and metre
The Loom of Years is 28 lines in 7 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 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 AABB seaA · treeA · tearsB · yearsB
- 2 AABB mouldA · goldA · againB · painB
- 3 AABB cooA · throughA · fearsB · yearsB
- 4 AABB roseA · closeA · marsB · starsB
- 5 AABB sightA · nightA · fearsB · yearsB
- 6 AABB wholeA · soulA · dieB · cryB
- 7 AABB moonA · noonA · spheresB · yearsB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In the light of the silent stars that shine on the struggling sea, | 15 | ·····/˘·····/˘· |
| In the weary cry of the wind and the whisper of flower and tree, | 16 | ··/˘······/˘·/·· |
| Under the breath of laughter, deep in the tide of tears, | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| I hear the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years. | 14 | ······/˘······ |
| The leaves of the winter wither and sink in the forest mould | 15 | ····/˘/˘····/˘· |
| To colour the flowers of April with purple and white and gold: | 15 | ·/˘·/·/˘·/˘···· |
| Light and scent and music die and are born again | 12 | ····/˘····˘/ |
| In the heart of a grey-haired woman who wakes in a world of pain. | 16 | ·······/˘······· |
| The hound, the fawn and the hawk, and the doves that croon and coo, | 14 | ·············· |
| We are all one woof of the weaving and the one warp threads us through, | 16 | ·······/˘······· |
| One flying cloud on the shuttle that carries our hopes and fears | 15 | ·/˘···/˘·/˘/··· |
| As it goes thro' the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years. | 16 | ········/˘······ |
| The crosiers of the fern, and the crown, the crown of the rose, | 14 | ·············· |
| Pass with our hearts to the Silence where the wings of music close, | 15 | ··/···/˘····/˘· |
| Pass and pass to the Timeless that never a moment mars, | 13 | ·····/˘·/·/˘· |
| Pass and pass to the Darkness that made the suns and stars. | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| Has the soul gone out in the Darkness? Is the dust sealed from sight? | 15 | ·······/˘······ |
| Ah, hush, for the woof of the ages returns thro' the warp of the night! | 17 | ·······/˘˘/······ |
| Never that shuttle loses one thread of our hopes and fears, | 13 | /·/˘/˘···/··· |
| As It comes thro' the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years. | 16 | ········/˘······ |
| O, woven in one wide Loom thro' the throbbing weft of the whole, | 15 | ·/˘······/˘···· |
| One in spirit and flesh, one in body and soul, | 11 | ··/····/˘·· |
| The leaf on the winds of autumn, the bird in its hour to die, | 15 | ······/˘····/·· |
| The heart in its muffled anguish, the sea in its mournful cry, | 15 | ····/˘/˘····/˘· |
| One with the flower of a day, one with the withered moon, | 13 | ···/······/˘· |
| One with the granite mountains that melt into the noon, | 13 | ···/˘/˘······ |
| One with the dream that triumphs beyond the light of the spheres, | 14 | ·····/˘······· |
| We come from the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years. | 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.