The Finding of the Lyre
There lay upon the ocean’s shoreWhat once a tortoise served to cover;A year and more, with rush and roar,The surf had rolled it over,Had played with it, and flung it by,As wind and weather might decide it,Then tossed it high where sand-drifts dryCheap burial might provide it.
It rested there to bleach or tan,The rains had soaked, the sun had burned it;With many a ban the fishermanHad stumbled o’er and spurned it;And there the fisher-girl would stay,Conjecturing with her brotherHow in their play the poor estrayMight serve some use or other.
So there it lay, through wet and dry,As empty as the last new sonnet,Till by and by came Mercury,And, having mused upon it,“Why, here,” cried he, “the thing of thingsIn shape, material, and dimension!Give it but strings, and, lo, it sings,A wonderful invention!”
So said, so done; the chords he strained,And, as his fingers o’er them hovered,The shell disdained a soul had gained,The lyre had been discovered.O empty world that round us lies,Dead shell, of soul and thought forsaken,Brought we but eyes like Mercury’s,In thee what songs should waken!
Words in this poem
- burial n.
- A grave; a tomb; a place of sepulture. [OE. buriel, buriels, grave, tomb, AS. byrgels, fr. byrgan to bury, and akin to OS. burgisli sepulcher.]
- estray v. i.
- To stray. Daniel.
- sonnet n.
- A short poem, -- usually amatory. [F., fr. It. sonetto, fr. suono a sound, a song, fr. L. sonus a sound. See Sound noise.]
- waken v. i.
- To wake; to cease to sleep; to be awakened. [OE. waknen, AS. wæcnan; akin to Goth. gawaknan. See Wake, v. i.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Finding of the Lyre 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 Finding of the Lyre, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/the-finding-of-the-lyre.html, id L25246.
Form and metre
The Finding of the Lyre is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 ABABCDCD shoreA · coverB · roarA · overB · byC · itD · dryC · itD
- 2 ABABCDCD tanA · itB · fishermanA · itB · stayC · brotherD · estrayC · otherD
- 3 -A-ABCBC dry · sonnetA · mercury · itA · thingsB · dimensionC · singsB · inventionC
- 4 ABABCDCD strainedA · hoveredB · gainedA · discoveredB · liesC · forsakenD · mercury'sC · wakenD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There lay upon the ocean’s shore | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| What once a tortoise served to cover; | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| A year and more, with rush and roar, | 8 | ········ |
| The surf had rolled it over, | 8 | ····˘··· |
| Had played with it, and flung it by, | 8 | ········ |
| As wind and weather might decide it, | 9 | ···/˘·˘/· |
| Then tossed it high where sand-drifts dry | 8 | ········ |
| Cheap burial might provide it. | 8 | ·/˘˘·˘/· |
| It rested there to bleach or tan, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The rains had soaked, the sun had burned it; | 9 | ········· |
| With many a ban the fisherman | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Had stumbled o’er and spurned it; | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| And there the fisher-girl would stay, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Conjecturing with her brother | 8 | ˘/˘˘··/˘ |
| How in their play the poor estray | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Might serve some use or other. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| So there it lay, through wet and dry, | 8 | ········ |
| As empty as the last new sonnet, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Till by and by came Mercury, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| And, having mused upon it, | 8 | ·/˘·˘··· |
| “Why, here,” cried he, “the thing of things | 8 | ········ |
| In shape, material, and dimension! | 9 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Give it but strings, and, lo, it sings, | 8 | ········ |
| A wonderful invention!” | 7 | ·/˘˘˘/˘ |
| So said, so done; the chords he strained, | 8 | ········ |
| And, as his fingers o’er them hovered, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| The shell disdained a soul had gained, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| The lyre had been discovered. | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| O empty world that round us lies, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Dead shell, of soul and thought forsaken, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Brought we but eyes like Mercury’s, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| In thee what songs should waken! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
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