Four Poems of Departure
Light rain is on the light dust.The willows of the inn-yardWill be going greener and greener,But you, Sir, had better take wine ere your departure,For you will have no friends about youWhen you come to the gates of Go.
Words in this poem
- departure n.
- Division; separation; putting away. [From Depart.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Four Poems of Departure is in the public domain. This text is taken from Cathay, Project Gutenberg ebook #50155; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ezra Pound, Four Poems of Departure, in Cathay (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #50155, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pound-cathay/four-poems-of-departure.html, id L01241.
Form and metre
Four Poems of Departure is 6 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is anapaestic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.8 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in anapaestic trimeter.
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.
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 anapaestic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Light rain is on the light dust. | 7 | ······· |
| The willows of the inn-yard | 7 | ·/····· |
| Will be going greener and greener, | 9 | ··/˘/˘·/˘ |
| But you, Sir, had better take wine ere your departure, | 13 | ····/˘····˘/˘ |
| For you will have no friends about you | 9 | ········· |
| When you come to the gates of Go. | 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.