The Place of His Rest
The green marsh-mallowsAre over him.Along the shallowsThe pale lights swim.
Wide air, washed grasses,And waveless stream;And over him passesThe drift of dream;--
The pearl-hue downOf the poplar seed;The elm-flower brown;And the sway of the reed;
The blue moth, wingedWith a flake of sky;The bee, gold ringed;And the dragon fly.
Lightly the rushes,Lean to his breast;A bird's wing brushesThe place of his rest.
The far-flown swallow,The gold-finch flame,--They come, they followThe paths he came.
'Tis the land of No CareWhere now he lies,Fulfilled the prayerOf his weary eyes:
And while around himThe kind grass creeps,Where peace hath found himHow sound he sleeps.
Well to his slumberAttends the year:Soft rains without numberSoft noons, blue clear,
With nights of balm,And the dark, sweet hoursBrooding with calm,Pregnant with flowers.
See how she speeds them,Each childlike bloom,And softly leads themTo tend his tomb!--
The white thorn nearsAs the cowslip goes;Then the iris appears;And then, the rose.
Words in this poem
- waveless a.
- Free from waves; undisturbed; not agitated; as, the waveless sea.
- flake n.
- A paling; a hurdle. [prov. Eng.] [Cf. Icel. flaki, fleki, Dan. flage, D. vlaak.]
- childlike a.
- Resembling a child, or that which belongs to children; becoming a child; meek; submissive; dutiful.
- cowslip n.
- A common flower in England (Primula veris) having yellow blossoms and appearing in early spring. It is often cultivated in the United States. [AS. c, c, prob. orig., cow's droppings. Cf. Slop, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Place of His Rest 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, The Place of His Rest, in New Poems (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59897, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/roberts-new-poems/the-place-of-his-rest.html, id L11139.
Form and metre
The Place of His Rest is 48 lines in 12 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 4.8 syllables. 14 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABAB mallowsA · himB · shallowsA · swimB
- 2 ABAB grassesA · streamB · passesA · dreamB
- 3 ABAB downA · seedB · brownA · reedB
- 4 ABAB wingedA · skyB · ringedA · flyB
- 5 ABAB rushesA · breastB · brushesA · restB
- 6 ABAB swallowA · flameB · followA · cameB
- 7 ABAB careA · liesB · prayerA · eyesB
- 8 ABAB himA · creepsB · himA · sleepsB
- 9 ABAB slumberA · yearB · numberA · clearB
- 10 ABAB balmA · hoursB · calmA · flowersB
- 11 ABAB themA · bloomB · themA · tombB
- 12 ABAB nearsA · goesB · appearsA · roseB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The green marsh-mallows | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Are over him. | 4 | ···· |
| Along the shallows | 5 | ˘/·/˘ |
| The pale lights swim. | 4 | ···· |
| Wide air, washed grasses, | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| And waveless stream; | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And over him passes | 6 | ····/˘ |
| The drift of dream;-- | 4 | ···· |
| The pearl-hue down | 4 | ···· |
| Of the poplar seed; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| The elm-flower brown; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And the sway of the reed; | 6 | ······ |
| The blue moth, winged | 5 | ····˘ |
| With a flake of sky; | 5 | ····· |
| The bee, gold ringed; | 5 | ····˘ |
| And the dragon fly. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Lightly the rushes, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Lean to his breast; | 4 | ···· |
| A bird's wing brushes | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The place of his rest. | 5 | ····· |
| The far-flown swallow, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The gold-finch flame,-- | 4 | ···· |
| They come, they follow | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The paths he came. | 4 | ···· |
| 'Tis the land of No Care | 6 | ······ |
| Where now he lies, | 4 | ···· |
| Fulfilled the prayer | 5 | ˘/˘·· |
| Of his weary eyes: | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And while around him | 5 | ····· |
| The kind grass creeps, | 4 | ···· |
| Where peace hath found him | 5 | ····· |
| How sound he sleeps. | 4 | ···· |
| Well to his slumber | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Attends the year: | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Soft rains without number | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Soft noons, blue clear, | 4 | ···· |
| With nights of balm, | 4 | ···· |
| And the dark, sweet hours | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Brooding with calm, | 4 | /˘·· |
| Pregnant with flowers. | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| See how she speeds them, | 5 | ····· |
| Each childlike bloom, | 4 | ·/·· |
| And softly leads them | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| To tend his tomb!-- | 4 | ···· |
| The white thorn nears | 4 | ···· |
| As the cowslip goes; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Then the iris appears; | 6 | ··/˘˘/ |
| And then, the rose. | 4 | ···· |
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.