Rest
On me to rest, my bird, my bird:The swaying branches of my heartAre blown by every wind towardThe home whereto their wings depart.
Build not your nest, my bird, on me;I know no peace but ever sway:O lovely bird, be free, be free,On the wild music of the day.
But sometimes when your wings would rest,And winds are laid on quiet eves:Come, I will bear you breast to breast,And lap you close with loving leaves.
Words in this poem
- whereto adv.
- To which; -- used relatively.
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Rest is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Divine Vision, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #36913; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: George William Russell, Rest, in The Divine Vision and Other Poems (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36913, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/russell-divine-vision/rest.html, id L11525.
Form and metre
Rest is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 bird · heartA · toward · departA
- 2 ABAB meA · swayB · freeA · dayB
- 3 ABAB restA · evesB · breastA · leavesB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| On me to rest, my bird, my bird: | 8 | ········ |
| The swaying branches of my heart | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Are blown by every wind toward | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The home whereto their wings depart. | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Build not your nest, my bird, on me; | 8 | ········ |
| I know no peace but ever sway: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| O lovely bird, be free, be free, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| On the wild music of the day. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But sometimes when your wings would rest, | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| And winds are laid on quiet eves: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Come, I will bear you breast to breast, | 8 | ········ |
| And lap you close with loving leaves. | 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.