The Wilderness
Come away! come away! there's a frost along the marshes,And a frozen wind that skims the shoal where it shakes the dead black water;There's a moan across the lowland and a wailing through the woodlandOf a dirge that sings to send us back to the arms of those that love us.There is nothing left but ashes now where the crimson chills of autumnPut off the summer's languor with a touch that made us gladFor the glory that is gone from us, with a flight we cannot follow,To the slopes of other valleys and the sounds of other shores.
Come away! come away! you can hear them calling, calling,Calling us to come to them, and roam no more.Over there beyond the ridges and the land that lies between us,There's an old song calling us to come!
Come away! come away! -- for the scenes we leave behind usAre barren for the lights of home and a flame that's young forever;And the lonely trees around us creak the warning of the night-wind,That love and all the dreams of love are away beyond the mountains.The songs that call for us to-night, they have called for men before us,And the winds that blow the message, they have blown ten thousand years;But this will end our wander-time, for we know the joy that waits usIn the strangeness of home-coming, and a faithful woman's eyes.
Come away! come away! there is nothing now to cheer us --Nothing now to comfort us, but love's road home: --Over there beyond the darkness there's a window gleams to greet us,And a warm hearth waits for us within.
Come away! come away! -- or the roving-fiend will hold us,And make us all to dwell with him to the end of human faring:There are no men yet can leave him when his hands are clutched upon them,There are none will own his enmity, there are none will call him brother.So we'll be up and on the way, and the less we brag the betterFor the freedom that God gave us and the dread we do not know: --The frost that skips the willow-leaf will again be back to blight it,And the doom we cannot fly from is the doom we do not see.
Come away! come away! there are dead men all around us --Frozen men that mock us with a wild, hard laughThat shrieks and sinks and whimpers in the shrill November rushes,And the long fall wind on the lake.
Words in this poem
- lowland n.
- Land which is low with respect to the neighboring country; a low or level country; -- opposed to highland. The Lowlands, Belgium and Holland; the Netherlands; also, the southern part of Scotland.
- dirge n.
- A piece of music of a mournful character, to accompany funeral rites; a funeral hymn. [Contraction of Lat. dirige, direct thou (imperative of dirigere), the first word of a funeral hymn (Lat. transl. of Psalm v. 8) beginning, "Dirige, Domine, in c]
- creak v. i.
- To make a prolonged sharp grating or ssqueaking sound, as by the friction of hard substances; as, shoes creak. [OE. creken, prob. of imitative origin; cf. E. crack, and. D. kreiken to crackle, chirp.]
- strangeness n.
- The state or quality of being strange (in any sense of the adjective).
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Wilderness is in the public domain. This text is taken from Children of the Night, Project Gutenberg ebook #313; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edwin Arlington Robinson, The Wilderness, in The Children of the Night (1897), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #313, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/robinson-children-of-night/the-wilderness.html, id L08021.
Form and metre
The Wilderness is 36 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is trochaic octameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 77%). 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 14.5 syllables. 11 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic octameter.
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-A- usA · forever · wind · mountains · usA · years · usA · eyes
- 4 A-A- usA · home · usA · within
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 trochaic octameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Come away! come away! there's a frost along the marshes, | 14 | ·˘/·˘/···˘/·/˘ |
| And a frozen wind that skims the shoal where it shakes the dead black water; | 17 | ··/˘···········/˘ |
| There's a moan across the lowland and a wailing through the woodland | 16 | ···˘/·/···/˘··/· |
| Of a dirge that sings to send us back to the arms of those that love us. | 17 | ················· |
| There is nothing left but ashes now where the crimson chills of autumn | 17 | ··/˘··/˘···/˘··/˘ |
| Put off the summer's languor with a touch that made us glad | 14 | ···/˘/˘······· |
| For the glory that is gone from us, with a flight we cannot follow, | 17 | ··/˘·········/˘/˘ |
| To the slopes of other valleys and the sounds of other shores. | 15 | ····/˘/˘····/˘· |
| Come away! come away! you can hear them calling, calling, | 14 | ·˘/·˘/····/˘/˘ |
| Calling us to come to them, and roam no more. | 11 | /˘········· |
| Over there beyond the ridges and the land that lies between us, | 15 | ·····/˘········ |
| There's an old song calling us to come! | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Come away! come away! -- for the scenes we leave behind us | 14 | ·˘/·˘/········ |
| Are barren for the lights of home and a flame that's young forever; | 16 | ·/˘··········˘/˘ |
| And the lonely trees around us creak the warning of the night-wind, | 16 | ··/˘······/˘···· |
| That love and all the dreams of love are away beyond the mountains. | 16 | ·········˘/···/˘ |
| The songs that call for us to-night, they have called for men before us, | 16 | ················ |
| And the winds that blow the message, they have blown ten thousand years; | 15 | ······/˘····/˘· |
| But this will end our wander-time, for we know the joy that waits us | 16 | ····//˘········· |
| In the strangeness of home-coming, and a faithful woman's eyes. | 15 | ··/˘··/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Come away! come away! there is nothing now to cheer us -- | 14 | ·˘/·˘/··/˘···· |
| Nothing now to comfort us, but love's road home: -- | 11 | /˘··/˘····· |
| Over there beyond the darkness there's a window gleams to greet us, | 15 | ·····/˘··/˘···· |
| And a warm hearth waits for us within. | 9 | ········· |
| Come away! come away! -- or the roving-fiend will hold us, | 14 | ·˘/·˘/··/˘···· |
| And make us all to dwell with him to the end of human faring: | 16 | ············/˘/˘ |
| There are no men yet can leave him when his hands are clutched upon them, | 16 | ················ |
| There are none will own his enmity, there are none will call him brother. | 16 | ······/˘······/˘ |
| So we'll be up and on the way, and the less we brag the better | 16 | ··············/˘ |
| For the freedom that God gave us and the dread we do not know: -- | 15 | ··/˘··········· |
| The frost that skips the willow-leaf will again be back to blight it, | 16 | ·····/···˘/····· |
| And the doom we cannot fly from is the doom we do not see. | 15 | ····/˘········· |
| Come away! come away! there are dead men all around us -- | 14 | ·˘/·˘/········ |
| Frozen men that mock us with a wild, hard laugh | 11 | /˘········· |
| That shrieks and sinks and whimpers in the shrill November rushes, | 15 | ·····/˘···˘/˘/˘ |
| And the long fall wind on the lake. | 8 | ········ |
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