The Garden
Bountiful Givers,I look along the yearsAnd see the flowers you threw...AnemonesAnd sprigs of graySparse heather of the rocks,Or a wild violetOr daisy of a daisied field...But each your best.
I might have worn them on my breastTo wilt in the long day...I might have stemmed them in a narrow vaseAnd watched each petal sallowing...I might have held them so--mechanically--Till the wind winnowed all the leavesAnd left upon my handsA little smear of dust.
InsteadI hid them in the soft warm loamOf a dim shadowed place...DeepIn a still cool grotto,Lit only by the memories of starsAnd the wide and luminous eyesOf dead poetsThat love me and that I love...Deep... deep...Where none may see--not even ye who gave--About my soul your garden beautiful.
Words in this poem
- bountiful a.
- Free in giving; liberal in bestowing gifts and favors.
- sparse v. t.
- To scatter; to disperse. [L. sparsus, p.p. of spargere to scatter.]
- daisied a.
- Full of daisies; adorned with daisies.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Garden 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, The Garden, in The Ghetto, and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4332, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/ridge-ghetto/the-garden.html, id L20912.
Form and metre
The Garden is 29 lines in 3 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.
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.
- 3 ---A-----A-- instead · loam · place · deepA · grotto · stars · eyes · poets · love · deepA · gave · beautiful
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Bountiful Givers, | 5 | /˘˘/˘ |
| I look along the years | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| And see the flowers you threw... | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Anemones | 3 | /˘· |
| And sprigs of gray | 4 | ···· |
| Sparse heather of the rocks, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Or a wild violet | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Or daisy of a daisied field... | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| But each your best. | 4 | ···· |
| I might have worn them on my breast | 8 | ········ |
| To wilt in the long day... | 6 | ······ |
| I might have stemmed them in a narrow vase | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And watched each petal sallowing... | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I might have held them so--mechanically-- | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Till the wind winnowed all the leaves | 8 | ···/···· |
| And left upon my hands | 6 | ······ |
| A little smear of dust. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Instead | 2 | ˘/ |
| I hid them in the soft warm loam | 8 | ········ |
| Of a dim shadowed place... | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Deep | 1 | · |
| In a still cool grotto, | 6 | ····/· |
| Lit only by the memories of stars | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| And the wide and luminous eyes | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Of dead poets | 4 | ··/˘ |
| That love me and that I love... | 7 | ······· |
| Deep... deep... | 2 | ·· |
| Where none may see--not even ye who gave-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| About my soul your garden beautiful. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
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.