Under-Song
There is music in the strongDeep-throated bush,Whisperings of songHeard in the leaves' hush--Ballads of the treesIn tongues unknown--A reminiscent toneOn minor keys...
Boughs swaying to and froThough no winds pass...Faint odors in the grassWhere no flowers grow,And flutterings of wingsAnd faint first notes,Once babbled on the boughsOf faded springs.
Is it music from the gravesOf all things fairTrembling on the stavesOf spacious air--Fluted by the windsSongs with no words--Sonatas from the throatsOf master birds?
One peering through the huskOf darkness thrownMay hear it in the dusk--That ancient tone,Silvery as the lightOf long dead starsYet falling through the nightIn trembling bars.
Words in this poem
- reminiscent a.
- Recalling to mind, or capable of recalling to mind; having remembrance; reminding one of something. [L. reminiscens, -entis, p. pr. of reminisci to recall to mind, to recollect; pref.re- re + a word akin to mens mind, memini I remember. See Mind.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Under-Song 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, Under-Song, in The Ghetto, and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4332, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/ridge-ghetto/under-song.html, id L20913.
Form and metre
Under-Song is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in iambic 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.
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-BCCB strongA · bush · songA · hush · treesB · unknownC · toneC · keysB
- 2 ABBAC--C froA · passB · grassB · growA · wingsC · notes · boughs · springsC
- 3 ABAB-C-C gravesA · fairB · stavesA · airB · winds · wordsC · throats · birdsC
- 4 ABABCDCD huskA · thrownB · duskA · toneB · lightC · starsD · nightC · barsD
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| There is music in the strong | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Deep-throated bush, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Whisperings of song | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| Heard in the leaves' hush-- | 5 | ····· |
| Ballads of the trees | 5 | /˘··· |
| In tongues unknown-- | 4 | ··˘/ |
| A reminiscent tone | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| On minor keys... | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Boughs swaying to and fro | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Though no winds pass... | 4 | ···· |
| Faint odors in the grass | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Where no flowers grow, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And flutterings of wings | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| And faint first notes, | 4 | ···· |
| Once babbled on the boughs | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Of faded springs. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Is it music from the graves | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Of all things fair | 4 | ···· |
| Trembling on the staves | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| Of spacious air-- | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Fluted by the winds | 5 | /˘··· |
| Songs with no words-- | 4 | ···· |
| Sonatas from the throats | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Of master birds? | 4 | ·/˘· |
| One peering through the husk | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Of darkness thrown | 4 | ·/˘· |
| May hear it in the dusk-- | 6 | ······ |
| That ancient tone, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Silvery as the light | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| Of long dead stars | 4 | ···· |
| Yet falling through the night | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| In trembling bars. | 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.