Little White Lily
Little White LilySat by a stone,Drooping and waitingTill the sun shone.Little White LilySunshine has fed;Little White LilyIs lifting her head.
Little White LilySaid: “It is goodLittle White Lily’sClothing and food.”Little White LilyDressed like a bride!Shining with whiteness,And crownèd beside!
Little White LilyDrooping with pain,Waiting and waitingFor the wet rain.Little White LilyHoldeth her cup;Rain is fast fallingAnd filling it up.
Little White LilySaid: “Good again,When I am thirstyTo have the nice rain.Now I am stronger,Now I am cool;Heat cannot burn me,My veins are so full.”
Little White LilySmells very sweet;On her head sunshine,Rain at her feet.Thanks to the sunshine,Thanks to the rain,Little White LilyIs happy again.
Words in this poem
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Little White Lily 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, Little White Lily, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/little-white-lily.html, id L25163.
Form and metre
Little White Lily is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is dactylic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in dactylic dimeter.
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 AB-BACAC lilyA · stoneB · waiting · shoneB · lilyA · fedC · lilyA · headC
- 2 A---AB-B lilyA · good · lily's · food · lilyA · brideB · whiteness · besideB
- 3 AB-BAC-C lilyA · painB · waiting · rainB · lilyA · cupC · falling · upC
- 4 -A-A---- lily · againA · thirsty · rainA · stronger · cool · me · full
- 5 ABCBCDAD lilyA · sweetB · sunshineC · feetB · sunshineC · rainD · lilyA · againD
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 dactylic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Little White Lily | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Sat by a stone, | 4 | ···· |
| Drooping and waiting | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Till the sun shone. | 4 | ···· |
| Little White Lily | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Sunshine has fed; | 4 | /··· |
| Little White Lily | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Is lifting her head. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Little White Lily | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Said: “It is good | 4 | ···· |
| Little White Lily’s | 5 | /˘·/· |
| Clothing and food.” | 4 | /˘·· |
| Little White Lily | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Dressed like a bride! | 5 | ·˘··· |
| Shining with whiteness, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| And crownèd beside! | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Little White Lily | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Drooping with pain, | 4 | /˘·· |
| Waiting and waiting | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| For the wet rain. | 4 | ···· |
| Little White Lily | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Holdeth her cup; | 4 | /˘·· |
| Rain is fast falling | 5 | ···/˘ |
| And filling it up. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Little White Lily | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Said: “Good again, | 4 | ··˘/ |
| When I am thirsty | 5 | ···/˘ |
| To have the nice rain. | 5 | ····· |
| Now I am stronger, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Now I am cool; | 4 | ···· |
| Heat cannot burn me, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| My veins are so full.” | 5 | ····· |
| Little White Lily | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Smells very sweet; | 4 | ·/˘· |
| On her head sunshine, | 5 | ···/· |
| Rain at her feet. | 4 | ···· |
| Thanks to the sunshine, | 5 | ···/· |
| Thanks to the rain, | 4 | ···· |
| Little White Lily | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Is happy again. | 5 | ·/˘˘/ |
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.