Crimson Rambler
Now that a crimson ramblerbegins to crawl over the houseof our two lives—
Now that a red curvewinds across the shingles—
Now that handswashed in early sunrisesclimb and spill scarleton a white lattice weave—
Now that a loop of bloodis written on our roofand reaching around a chimney—
How are the two lives of this houseto keep strong hands and strong hearts?
Words in this poem
- rambler n.
- One who rambles; a rover; a wanderer.
- crawl v. i.
- To move slowly by drawing the body along the ground, as a worm; to move slowly on hands and kness; to creep. [Dan. kravle, or Icel. krafla, to paw, scrabble with the hands; akin to Sw. kr to crawl; cf. LG. krabbeln, D. krabbelen to scratch.]
- spill n.
- A bit of wood split off; a splinter. [sq. root170. Cf. Spell a splinter.]
- chimney n.
- A fireplace or hearth. Sir W. Raleigh.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Crimson Rambler is in the public domain. This text is taken from Cornhuskers, Wikisource; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Carl Sandburg, Crimson Rambler, in Cornhuskers (1918), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sandburg-cornhuskers/crimson-rambler.html, id L29072.
Form and metre
Crimson Rambler is 14 lines in 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Now that a crimson rambler | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| begins to crawl over the house | 8 | ˘/······ |
| of our two lives— | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Now that a red curve | 5 | ····· |
| winds across the shingles— | 6 | ·˘/·/˘ |
| Now that hands | 3 | ··· |
| washed in early sunrises | 7 | ··/˘/·˘ |
| climb and spill scarlet | 5 | ···/˘ |
| on a white lattice weave— | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Now that a loop of blood | 6 | ······ |
| is written on our roof | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| and reaching around a chimney— | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| How are the two lives of this house | 8 | ········ |
| to keep strong hands and strong hearts? | 7 | ······· |
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.