The Brook
I chatter, chatter, as I flowTo join the brimming river;For men may come and men may go,But I go on forever.
I wind about, and in and out,With here a blossom sailing,And here and there a lusty trout,And here and there a grayling.
I steal by lawns and grassy plots,I slide by hazel covers;I move the sweet forget-me-notsThat grow for happy lovers.
I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,Among my skimming swallows;I make the netted sunbeams danceAgainst my sandy shallows.
I murmur under moon and starsIn brambly wildernesses;I linger by my shingly bars;I loiter round my cresses.
And out again I curve and flowTo join the brimming river;For men may come and men may go,But I go on forever.
Words in this poem
- brimming a.
- Full to the brim; overflowing.
- grayling n.
- A European fish (Thymallus vulgaris), allied to the trout, but having a very broad dorsal fin; -- called also umber. It inhabits cold mountain streams, and is valued as a game fish. [From Gray, a.]
- skimming n.
- The act of one who skims.
- brambly a.
- Pertaining to, resembling, or full of, brambles.
- shingly a.
- Abounding with shingle, or gravel.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Brook 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, The Brook, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/the-brook.html, id L25250.
Form and metre
The Brook is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 2 of the 6 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 97%).
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 A-A- flowA · river · goA · forever
- 2 ABAB outA · sailingB · troutA · graylingB
- 3 ABAB plotsA · coversB · notsA · loversB
- 4 A-A- glanceA · swallows · danceA · shallows
- 5 A-A- starsA · wildernesses · barsA · cresses
- 6 A-A- flowA · river · goA · forever
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I chatter, chatter, as I flow | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To join the brimming river; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| For men may come and men may go, | 8 | ········ |
| But I go on forever. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| I wind about, and in and out, | 8 | ········ |
| With here a blossom sailing, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| And here and there a lusty trout, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And here and there a grayling. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| I steal by lawns and grassy plots, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I slide by hazel covers; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| I move the sweet forget-me-nots | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| That grow for happy lovers. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance, | 8 | ········ |
| Among my skimming swallows; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| I make the netted sunbeams dance | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| Against my sandy shallows. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| I murmur under moon and stars | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In brambly wildernesses; | 7 | ·/˘/˘˘˘ |
| I linger by my shingly bars; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I loiter round my cresses. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| And out again I curve and flow | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| To join the brimming river; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| For men may come and men may go, | 8 | ········ |
| But I go on forever. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
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.