The Old Lowe House, Staten Island
Another prospect pleased the builder's eye,And Fashion tenanted (where Fashion wanes)Here in the sorrowful suburban lanesWhen first these gables rose against the sky.Relic of a romantic taste gone by,This stately monument alone remains,Vacant, with lichened walls and window-panesBlank as the windows of a skull. But I,On evenings when autumnal winds have stirredIn the porch-vines, to this gray oracleHave laid a wondering ear and oft-times heard,As from the hollow of a stranded shell,Old voices echoing (or my fancy erred)Things indistinct, but not insensible.
Words in this poem
- suburban a.
- Of or pertaining to suburbs; inhabiting, or being in, the suburbs of a city. [L. suburbanus.]
- lichened a.
- Belonging to, or covered with, lichens.
- oracle v. i.
- To utter oracles.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Old Lowe House, Staten Island 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, The Old Lowe House, Staten Island, in Poems (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seeger-poems/the-old-lowe-house-staten-island.html, id L12958.
Form and metre
The Old Lowe House, Staten Island is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% 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 ABBAABBACDCD-D eyeA · wanesB · lanesB · skyA · byA · remainsB · panesB · iA · stirredC · oracleD · heardC · shellD · erred · insensibleD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Another prospect pleased the builder's eye, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And Fashion tenanted (where Fashion wanes) | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Here in the sorrowful suburban lanes | 10 | ···/˘˘˘/˘· |
| When first these gables rose against the sky. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Relic of a romantic taste gone by, | 10 | /˘··˘/˘··· |
| This stately monument alone remains, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘˘/˘/ |
| Vacant, with lichened walls and window-panes | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Blank as the windows of a skull. But I, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| On evenings when autumnal winds have stirred | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| In the porch-vines, to this gray oracle | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Have laid a wondering ear and oft-times heard, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| As from the hollow of a stranded shell, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Old voices echoing (or my fancy erred) | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Things indistinct, but not insensible. | 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.