Laurel · Robert W. Service · Songs of a Sourdough

The Heart of the Sourdough

Robert W. Service (1874–1958) · 1907

31 lines · from Songs of a Sourdough

There where the mighty mountains bare their fangs unto the moon;There where the sullen sun-dogs glare in the snow-bright, bitter noon,And the glacier-gutted streams sweep down at the clarion call of June:

There where the livid tundras keep their tryst with the tranquil snows;There where the Silences are spawned, and the light of hell-fire flowsInto the bowl of the midnight sky, violet, amber, and rose:

There where the rapids churn and roar, and the ice-floes bellowing run;Where the tortured, twisted rivers of blood rush to the setting sun--I've packed my kit and I'm going, boys, ere another day is done.

I knew it would call, or soon or late, as it calls the whirring wings;It's the olden lure, it's the golden lure, it's the lure of thetimeless things;And to-night, O God of the trails untrod, how it whines in myheart-strings!

I'm sick to death of your well-groomed gods, your make-believe andyour show;I long for a whiff of bacon and beans, a snug shake-down in the snow,A trail to break, and a life at stake, and another bout with the foe;

With the raw-ribbed Wild that abhors all life, the wild that wouldcrush and rend;I have clinched and closed with the naked North, I have learned todefy and defend;Shoulder to shoulder we've fought it out--yet the Wild must win inthe end.

I have flouted the Wild. I have followed its lure, fearless,familiar, alone;By all that the battle means and makes I claim that land for mine own;Yet the Wild must win, and a day will come when I shall be overthrown.

Then when as wolf-dogs fight we've fought, the lean wolf-land and I;Fought and bled till the snows are red under the reeling sky;Even as lean wolf-dog goes down will I go down and die.

Words in this poem

sullen a.: Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
glare v. i.: To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
clarion n.: A kind of trumpet, whose note is clear and shrill. [OE. clarioun, OF. clarion, F. clairon, LL. clario, claro; so called from its clear tone, fr. L. clarus clear. See Clear.]
tryst v. i.: To mutually agree to meet at a certain place.
churn n.: A vessel in which milk or cream is stirred, beaten, or otherwise agitated (as by a plunging or revolving dasher) in order to separete the oily globules from the other parts, and obtain butter. [OE. chirne, cherne, AS. ceren, cyrin; akin to D. karn, Dan. kierne. See Churn, v. t.]
olden a.: Old; ancient; as, the olden time.
timeless a.: Done at an improper time; unseasonable; untimely.
whiff n.: A sudden expulsion of air from the mouth; a quick puff or slight gust, as of air or smoke. [OE. weffe vapor, whiff, probably of imitative origin; cf. Dan. vift a puff, gust, W. chwiff a whiff, puff.]
defy v. t.: To renounce or dissolve all bonds of affiance, faith, or obligation with; to reject, refuse, or renounce. [F. défier, OF. deffier, desfier, LL. disfidare to disown faith or fidelity, to dissolve the bond of allegiance, as between the vassal and his lord; hence, to ch]
shall v. i.: To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

The Heart of the Sourdough is in the public domain. This text is taken from Songs of a Sourdough, Project Gutenberg ebook #25546; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Robert W. Service, The Heart of the Sourdough, in Songs of a Sourdough (1907), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #25546, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/service-sourdough/the-heart-of-the-sourdough.html, id L08106.

Form and metre

The Heart of the Sourdough is 31 lines in 8 stanzas. 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.3 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 23% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

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 moon^A · noon^A · june^A
2 AAA snows^A · flows^A · rose^A
3 AAA run^A · sun^A · done^A
4 A-A-A wings^A · the · things^A · my · strings^A
5 -AAA and · show^A · snow^A · foe^A
6 -A-A-A would · rend^A · to · defend^A · in · end^A
7 -AAA fearless · alone^A · own^A · overthrown^A
8 AAA i^A · sky^A · die^A

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. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
There where the mighty mountains bare their fangs unto the moon;	14	···/˘/˘·······
There where the sullen sun-dogs glare in the snow-bright, bitter noon,	15	···/˘·······/˘·
And the glacier-gutted streams sweep down at the clarion call of June:	16	··/˘/˘·····/˘···
There where the livid tundras keep their tryst with the tranquil snows;	15	···/˘/˘·····/˘·
There where the Silences are spawned, and the light of hell-fire flows	14	···/˘·······/·
Into the bowl of the midnight sky, violet, amber, and rose:	15	······/··/˘/˘··
There where the rapids churn and roar, and the ice-floes bellowing run;	15	···/˘·······/˘·
Where the tortured, twisted rivers of blood rush to the setting sun--	16	··/˘/˘/˘·····/˘·
I've packed my kit and I'm going, boys, ere another day is done.	15	······/··˘/˘···
I knew it would call, or soon or late, as it calls the whirring wings;	16	·············/˘·
It's the olden lure, it's the golden lure, it's the lure of the	15	··/˘···/˘······
timeless things;	3	/˘·
And to-night, O God of the trails untrod, how it whines in my	15	···············
heart-strings!	2	··
I'm sick to death of your well-groomed gods, your make-believe and	14	···········˘/·
your show;	2	··
I long for a whiff of bacon and beans, a snug shake-down in the snow,	17	······/˘·········
A trail to break, and a life at stake, and another bout with the foe;	17	··········˘/˘····
With the raw-ribbed Wild that abhors all life, the wild that would	14	······˘/······
crush and rend;	3	···
I have clinched and closed with the naked North, I have learned to	14	·······/˘·····
defy and defend;	5	˘/·˘/
Shoulder to shoulder we've fought it out--yet the Wild must win in	15	/˘·/˘··········
the end.	2	··
I have flouted the Wild. I have followed its lure, fearless,	14	··/˘····/˘··/˘
familiar, alone;	5	˘/˘˘/
By all that the battle means and makes I claim that land for mine own;	16	····/˘··········
Yet the Wild must win, and a day will come when I shall be overthrown.	17	···············˘/
Then when as wolf-dogs fight we've fought, the lean wolf-land and I;	14	··············
Fought and bled till the snows are red under the reeling sky;	14	···········/˘·
Even as lean wolf-dog goes down will I go down and die.	13	/············

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.

More by Robert W. Service

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