Hearthside
Half across the world from meLie the lands I'll never see--I, whose longing lives and diesWhere a ship has sailed away;I, that never close my eyesBut to look upon Cathay.
Things I may not know nor tellWait, where older waters swell;Ways that flowered at Sappho's tread,Winds that sighed in Homer's strings,Vibrant with the singing dead,Golden with the dust of wings.
Under deeper skies than mine,Quiet valleys dip and shine.Where their tender grasses healAncient scars of trench and tombI shall never walk; nor kneelWhere the bones of poets bloom.
If I seek a lovelier part,Where I travel goes my heart;Where I stray my thought must go;With me wanders my desire.Best to sit and watch the snow,Turn the lock, and poke the fire.
Words in this poem
- vibrant a.
- Vibrating; tremulous; resonant; as, vibrant drums. [L. vibrans, p. pr.: cf. F. vibrant. See Vibrate.]
- 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,]
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hearthside is in the public domain. This text is taken from Enough Rope: Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #68353; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Dorothy Parker, Hearthside, in Enough Rope (1926), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #68353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/parker-enough-rope/hearthside.html, id L27335.
Form and metre
Hearthside is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCBC. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%).
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 AABCBC meA · seeA · diesB · awayC · eyesB · cathayC
- 2 AABCBC tellA · swellA · treadB · stringsC · deadB · wingsC
- 3 AABCBC mineA · shineA · healB · tombC · kneelB · bloomC
- 4 AABCBC partA · heartA · goB · desireC · snowB · fireC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Half across the world from me | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Lie the lands I'll never see-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| I, whose longing lives and dies | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Where a ship has sailed away; | 8 | ·····˘˘/ |
| I, that never close my eyes | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| But to look upon Cathay. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Things I may not know nor tell | 7 | ······· |
| Wait, where older waters swell; | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Ways that flowered at Sappho's tread, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Winds that sighed in Homer's strings, | 8 | ···˘·/˘· |
| Vibrant with the singing dead, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Golden with the dust of wings. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Under deeper skies than mine, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Quiet valleys dip and shine. | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Where their tender grasses heal | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Ancient scars of trench and tomb | 7 | /˘····· |
| I shall never walk; nor kneel | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Where the bones of poets bloom. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| If I seek a lovelier part, | 8 | ········ |
| Where I travel goes my heart; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Where I stray my thought must go; | 7 | ······· |
| With me wanders my desire. | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Best to sit and watch the snow, | 7 | ······· |
| Turn the lock, and poke the fire. | 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.