Wayfarer of Earth
Up, Heart of mine,Thou wayfarer of earth!Of seed divine,Be mindful of thy birth.Though the flesh faintThrough long-endured constraintOf nights and days,Lift up thy praiseTo life, that set thee in such strenuous ways,And left thee notTo drowse and rotIn some thick-perfumed and luxurious plot.
Strong, strong is earthWith vigour for thy feet,To make thy wayfaringTireless and fleet.And good is earth,--But earth not all thy good,O thou with seed of sunsAnd star-fire in thy blood!
And though thou feelThe slow clog of the hoursLeaden upon thy heel,Put forth thy powers.Thine the deep sky,The unpreëmpted blue,The haste of storm,The hush of dew.Thine, thine the freeExalt of star and tree,The reinless runOf wind and sun,The vagrance of the sea.
Words in this poem
- wayfarer n.
- One who travels; a traveler; a passenger.
- mindful a.
- Bearing in mind; regardful; attentive; heedful; observant.
- strenuous a.
- Eagerly pressing or urgent; zealous; ardent; earnest; bold; valiant; intrepid; as, a strenuous advocate for national rights; a strenuous reformer; a strenuous defender of his country.
- drowse v. i.
- To sleep imperfectly or unsoundly; to slumber; to be heavy with sleepiness; to doze. [AS. dr, dr, to sink, become slow or inactive; cf. OD. droosen to be sleepy, fall asleep, LG. dr, druusken, to slumber, fall down with a noise; prob, akin to AS.]
- vigour v. t.
- To invigorate. Feltham.
- wayfaring a.
- Traveling; passing; being on a journey.
- reinless a.
- Not having, or not governed by, reins; hence, not checked or restrained.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Wayfarer of Earth 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, Wayfarer of Earth, in New Poems (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59897, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/roberts-new-poems/wayfarer-of-earth.html, id L11127.
Form and metre
Wayfarer of Earth is 33 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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 ABABCCDDDEEE mineA · earthB · divineA · birthB · faintC · constraintC · daysD · praiseD · waysD · notE · rotE · plotE
- 2 AB-BAC-C earthA · feetB · wayfaring · fleetB · earthA · goodC · suns · bloodC
- 3 ABABCD-DCCEEC feelA · hoursB · heelA · powersB · skyC · blueD · storm · dewD · freeC · treeC · runE · sunE · seaC
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Up, Heart of mine, | 4 | ···· |
| Thou wayfarer of earth! | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Of seed divine, | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Be mindful of thy birth. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Though the flesh faint | 4 | ···· |
| Through long-endured constraint | 6 | ··˘/˘/ |
| Of nights and days, | 4 | ···· |
| Lift up thy praise | 4 | ···· |
| To life, that set thee in such strenuous ways, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And left thee not | 4 | ···· |
| To drowse and rot | 4 | ···· |
| In some thick-perfumed and luxurious plot. | 10 | ···˘/·˘/˘· |
| Strong, strong is earth | 4 | ···· |
| With vigour for thy feet, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| To make thy wayfaring | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Tireless and fleet. | 4 | /˘·· |
| And good is earth,-- | 4 | ···· |
| But earth not all thy good, | 6 | ······ |
| O thou with seed of suns | 6 | ······ |
| And star-fire in thy blood! | 6 | ··/··· |
| And though thou feel | 4 | ···· |
| The slow clog of the hours | 6 | ·····/ |
| Leaden upon thy heel, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Put forth thy powers. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Thine the deep sky, | 4 | ···· |
| The unpreëmpted blue, | 5 | ····· |
| The haste of storm, | 4 | ···· |
| The hush of dew. | 4 | ···· |
| Thine, thine the free | 4 | ···· |
| Exalt of star and tree, | 6 | ˘/···· |
| The reinless run | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Of wind and sun, | 4 | ···· |
| The vagrance of the sea. | 6 | ······ |
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.