The Voice of the Waters
Where the Greyhound River windeth through a loneliness so deep,Scarce a wild fowl shakes the quiet that the purple boglands keep,Only God exults in silence over fields no man may reap.
Where the silver wave with sweetness fed the tiny lives of grassI was bent above, my image mirrored in the fleeting glass,And a voice from out the water through my being seemed to pass.
"Still above the waters brooding, spirit, in thy timeless quest;Was the glory of thine image trembling over east and westNot divine enough when mirrored in the morning water's breast?"
With the sighing voice that murmured I was borne to ages dimEre the void was lit with beauty breathed upon by seraphim,We were cradled there together folded in the peace in Him.
One to be the master spirit, one to be the slave awoke,One to shape itself obedient to the fiery words we spoke,Flame and flood and stars and mountains from the primal waters broke.
I was huddled in the heather when the vision failed its light,Still and blue and vast above me towered aloft the solemn height,Where the stars like dewdrops glistened on the mountain slope of night.
Words in this poem
- loneliness n.
- The condition of being lonely; solitude; seclusion.
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- reap n.
- A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. Wright. [Cf. AS. rip harvest. See Reap, v.]
- timeless a.
- Done at an improper time; unseasonable; untimely.
- seraphim n.
- The Hebrew plural of Seraph. Cf. Cherubim.
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- primal a.
- First; primary; original; chief. [LL. primalis, fr. L. primus the first. See Prime, a.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- towered a.
- Adorned or defended by towers.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Voice of the Waters 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, The Voice of the Waters, in The Divine Vision and Other Poems (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36913, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/russell-divine-vision/the-voice-of-the-waters.html, id L11559.
Form and metre
The Voice of the Waters is 18 lines in 6 stanzas of 3 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 56% of the lines. The metre is trochaic octameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 14.6 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, 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.
- 1 AAA deepA · keepA · reapA
- 2 AAA grassA · glassA · passA
- 3 AAA questA · westA · breastA
- 4 A-A dimA · seraphim · himA
- 5 AAA awokeA · spokeA · brokeA
- 6 AAA lightA · heightA · nightA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Where the Greyhound River windeth through a loneliness so deep, | 14 | ··/·/˘/˘··/˘·· |
| Scarce a wild fowl shakes the quiet that the purple boglands keep, | 14 | ······/··/˘··· |
| Only God exults in silence over fields no man may reap. | 14 | /˘·˘/·/˘······ |
| Where the silver wave with sweetness fed the tiny lives of grass | 15 | ··/˘··/˘··/˘··· |
| I was bent above, my image mirrored in the fleeting glass, | 15 | ······/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And a voice from out the water through my being seemed to pass. | 14 | ······/˘··/··· |
| "Still above the waters brooding, spirit, in thy timeless quest; | 14 | ····/˘/˘/··/˘· |
| Was the glory of thine image trembling over east and west | 14 | ··/˘··/˘/˘···· |
| Not divine enough when mirrored in the morning water's breast?" | 15 | ·˘/˘/·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| With the sighing voice that murmured I was borne to ages dim | 15 | ··/˘··/˘····/˘· |
| Ere the void was lit with beauty breathed upon by seraphim, | 15 | ······/˘····/˘˘ |
| We were cradled there together folded in the peace in Him. | 15 | ··/˘·˘/˘/˘····· |
| One to be the master spirit, one to be the slave awoke, | 14 | ····/˘/·····˘/ |
| One to shape itself obedient to the fiery words we spoke, | 15 | ···˘/˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Flame and flood and stars and mountains from the primal waters broke. | 15 | ······/˘··/˘/˘· |
| I was huddled in the heather when the vision failed its light, | 15 | ··/˘··/˘··/˘··· |
| Still and blue and vast above me towered aloft the solemn height, | 15 | ········/˘/·/˘· |
| Where the stars like dewdrops glistened on the mountain slope of night. | 15 | ······/˘··/˘··· |
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.