A Name in the Sand
Alone I walked the ocean strand;A pearly shell was in my hand:I stooped and wrote upon the sandMy name--the year--the day.As onward from the spot I passed,One lingering look behind I cast;A wave came rolling high and fast,And washed my lines away.
And so, methought, ’twill shortly beWith every mark on earth from me:A wave of dark oblivion’s seaWill sweep across the placeWhere I have trod the sandy shoreOf time, and been, to be no more,Of me--my day--the name I bore,To leave nor track nor trace.
And yet, with Him who counts the sandsAnd holds the waters in His hands,I know a lasting record standsInscribed against my name,Of all this mortal part has wrought,Of all this thinking soul has thought,And from these fleeting moments caughtFor glory or for shame.
Words in this poem
- wrote v. i.
- To root with the snout. See 1st Root. [OE. wroten. See 1st Root.]
- twill v. i.
- To weave, as cloth, so as to produce the appearance of diagonal lines or ribs on the surface. [Scotch tweel; probably from LG. twillen to make double, from twi- two; akin to AS. twi-, E. twi- in twilight. See Twice, and cf. Tweed, Tweel.]
- shortly adv.
- In a short or brief time or manner; soon; quickly. [AS. sceortlice.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Name in the Sand is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, A Name in the Sand, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/a-name-in-the-sand.html, id L25295.
Form and metre
A Name in the Sand is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AAABCCCB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 AAABCCCB strandA · handA · sandA · dayB · passedC · castC · fastC · awayB
- 2 AAABCCCB beA · meA · seaA · placeB · shoreC · moreC · boreC · traceB
- 3 AAABCCCB sandsA · handsA · standsA · nameB · wroughtC · thoughtC · caughtC · shameB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Alone I walked the ocean strand; | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| A pearly shell was in my hand: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I stooped and wrote upon the sand | 8 | ········ |
| My name--the year--the day. | 6 | ······ |
| As onward from the spot I passed, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| One lingering look behind I cast; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A wave came rolling high and fast, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And washed my lines away. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| And so, methought, ’twill shortly be | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| With every mark on earth from me: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A wave of dark oblivion’s sea | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Will sweep across the place | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Where I have trod the sandy shore | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of time, and been, to be no more, | 8 | ········ |
| Of me--my day--the name I bore, | 8 | ········ |
| To leave nor track nor trace. | 6 | ······ |
| And yet, with Him who counts the sands | 8 | ········ |
| And holds the waters in His hands, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I know a lasting record stands | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Inscribed against my name, | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Of all this mortal part has wrought, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of all this thinking soul has thought, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And from these fleeting moments caught | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| For glory or for shame. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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.