Poems
Pure stream, in whose transparent waveMy youthful limbs I wont to lave;No torrents stain thy limpid source,No rocks impede thy dimpling courseDevolving from thy parent lakeA charming maze thy waters makeBy bowers of birch and groves of pineAnd edges flower’d with eglantine.
Still on thy banks so gaily greenMay numerous herds and flocks be seen,And lasses chanting o’er the pail,And shepherds piping in the dale,And ancient faith that knows no guile,And industry embrown’d with toil,And hearts resolved and hands preparedThe blessings they enjoy to guard.
Words in this poem
- lave v. t.
- To lade, dip, or pour out. [OE. laven. See Lavish.]
- maze n.
- A wild fancy; a confused notion. [OE. mase; cf. OE. masen to confuse, puzzle, Norweg. masast to fall into a slumber, masa to be continually busy, prate, chatter, Icel. masa to chatter, dial. Sw.]
- gaily adv.
- Merrily; showily. See gaily. [From Gay.]
- piping a.
- Playing on a musical pipe. [From Pipe, v.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poems is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900, Project Gutenberg ebook #66619; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Tobias George Smollett, Poems, (1721–1771), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-tobias-george-smollett/to-leven-water.html, id L16162.
Form and metre
To Leven Water is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 44% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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 AABBCCDD waveA · laveA · sourceB · courseB · lakeC · makeC · pineD · eglantineD
- 2 AABB---- greenA · seenA · pailB · daleB · guile · toil · prepared · guard
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Pure stream, in whose transparent wave | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| My youthful limbs I wont to lave; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| No torrents stain thy limpid source, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| No rocks impede thy dimpling course | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Devolving from thy parent lake | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| A charming maze thy waters make | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| By bowers of birch and groves of pine | 8 | ·/······ |
| And edges flower’d with eglantine. | 8 | ·/˘/·/˘· |
| Still on thy banks so gaily green | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| May numerous herds and flocks be seen, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And lasses chanting o’er the pail, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And shepherds piping in the dale, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And ancient faith that knows no guile, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And industry embrown’d with toil, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| And hearts resolved and hands prepared | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| The blessings they enjoy to guard. | 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.