Bellinglise I
Deep in the sloping forest that surroundsThe head of a green valley that I know,Spread the fair gardens and ancestral groundsOf Bellinglise, the beautiful chateau.Through shady groves and fields of unmown grass,It was my joy to come at dusk and see,Filling a little pond's untroubled glass,Its antique towers and mouldering masonry.Oh, should I fall to-morrow, lay me here,That o'er my tomb, with each reviving year,Wood-flowers may blossom and the wood-doves croon;And lovers by that unrecorded place,Passing, may pause, and cling a little space,Close-bosomed, at the rising of the moon.
Words in this poem
- chateau n.
- A castle or a fortress in France. [F. château a castle. See Castle.]
- croon v. i.
- To make a continuous hollow moan, as cattle do when in pain.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Bellinglise I is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #617; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Alan Seeger, Bellinglise I, in Poems (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seeger-poems/bellinglise-i.html, id L12979.
Form and metre
Bellinglise I is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABABC-C-DDEFFE surroundsA · knowB · groundsA · chateauB · grassC · see · glassC · masonry · hereD · yearD · croonE · placeF · spaceF · moonE
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Deep in the sloping forest that surrounds | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The head of a green valley that I know, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Spread the fair gardens and ancestral grounds | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Of Bellinglise, the beautiful chateau. | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘/ |
| Through shady groves and fields of unmown grass, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| It was my joy to come at dusk and see, | 10 | ·········· |
| Filling a little pond's untroubled glass, | 10 | /˘·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Its antique towers and mouldering masonry. | 11 | ·˘//·/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Oh, should I fall to-morrow, lay me here, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That o'er my tomb, with each reviving year, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Wood-flowers may blossom and the wood-doves croon; | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| And lovers by that unrecorded place, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Passing, may pause, and cling a little space, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Close-bosomed, at the rising of the moon. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
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.