Submerged
I have known only my own shallows--Safe, plumbed places,Where I was wont to preen myself.
But for the abyssI wanted a plank beneathAnd horizons...
I was afraid of the silenceAnd the slipping toe-hold...
Oh, could I now diveInto the unexplored deeps of me--Delve and bring up and giveAll that is submerged, encased, unfolded,That is yet the best.
Words in this poem
- preen n.
- A forked tool used by clothiers in dressing cloth. [AS. preón a clasp, bodkin; akin to D. priem punch, bodkin, awl, G. pfriem, Icel. prjonn a knitting needle, pin, Dan. preen a bodkin, punch.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Submerged is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Ghetto, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #4332; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Lola Ridge, Submerged, in The Ghetto, and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4332, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/ridge-ghetto/submerged.html, id L20905.
Form and metre
Submerged is 13 lines in 4 stanzas.
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I have known only my own shallows-- | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Safe, plumbed places, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Where I was wont to preen myself. | 8 | ·······/ |
| But for the abyss | 5 | ···˘/ |
| I wanted a plank beneath | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And horizons... | 4 | ·˘/˘ |
| I was afraid of the silence | 8 | ··˘/··/˘ |
| And the slipping toe-hold... | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Oh, could I now dive | 5 | ····· |
| Into the unexplored deeps of me-- | 9 | ····˘/··· |
| Delve and bring up and give | 6 | ······ |
| All that is submerged, encased, unfolded, | 10 | ···˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| That is yet the best. | 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.