In the Valley of Luchon
Day long, and night long,From the soaring peaks and the snow,Down through the valley villagesThe cold white waters flow.
Quiet are the villages;And very quiet the cloudAt rest on the breast of the mountain;But the falling waves are loud
Through the little, clustering cottages,Through the little, climbing fields,Where every sunburnt vineyardIts patch of purple yields.
High hung, a steel-bright scimitar,The crooked glacier gleams.The white church dreams in the valleyWhere the red oleander dreams.
And every wonder of beautyComes, as a dream comes, true,Where the sun drips rose from the ledgesAnd the moon by the peak swims blue.
Words in this poem
- vineyard n.
- An inclosure or yard for grapevines; a plantation of vines producing grapes. [For OE. winyard, AS. wingeard; influenced by E. vine. See Wine, and Yard an inclosure.]
- scimitar n.
- A saber with a much curved blade having the edge on the convex side, -- in use among Mohammedans, esp., the Arabs and persians. [F. cimeterre, cf. It. scimitarra, Sp. cimitarra; fr. Biscayan cimetarry with a sharp edge; or corrupted from Per. shimshir.]
- oleander n.
- A beautiful evergreen shrub of the Dogbane family, having clusters of fragrant red or white flowers. It is native of the East Indies, but the red variety has become common in the south of Europe.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In the Valley of Luchon is in the public domain. This text is taken from New Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #59897; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Charles G. D. Roberts, In the Valley of Luchon, in New Poems (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59897, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/roberts-new-poems/in-the-valley-of-luchon.html, id L11125.
Form and metre
In the Valley of Luchon is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 35% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 long · snowA · villages · flowA
- 2 -A-A villages · cloudA · mountain · loudA
- 3 -A-A cottages · fieldsA · vineyard · yieldsA
- 4 -A-A scimitar · gleamsA · valley · dreamsA
- 5 -A-A beauty · trueA · ledges · blueA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Day long, and night long, | 5 | ····· |
| From the soaring peaks and the snow, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Down through the valley villages | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| The cold white waters flow. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Quiet are the villages; | 7 | /˘··/˘˘ |
| And very quiet the cloud | 6 | ·/˘/·· |
| At rest on the breast of the mountain; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| But the falling waves are loud | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Through the little, clustering cottages, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Through the little, climbing fields, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Where every sunburnt vineyard | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Its patch of purple yields. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| High hung, a steel-bright scimitar, | 8 | ········ |
| The crooked glacier gleams. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| The white church dreams in the valley | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Where the red oleander dreams. | 8 | ···/˘·˘· |
| And every wonder of beauty | 8 | ·/˘/˘·/˘ |
| Comes, as a dream comes, true, | 6 | ······ |
| Where the sun drips rose from the ledges | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And the moon by the peak swims blue. | 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.