In an Orchard
Airy and quick and wiseIn the shed light of the sun,You clasp with friendly eyesThe thoughts from mine that run.
But something breaks the link;I solitary standBy a giant gully's brinkIn some vast gloomy land.
Sole central watcher, IWith steadfast sadness nowIn that waste place descry'Neath the awful heavens how
Your life doth dizzy dropA little foam of flameFrom a peak without a topTo a pit without a name.
Words in this poem
- brink n.
- The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge, as of a river or pit; a verge; a border; as, the brink of a chasm. Also Fig. [Dan. brink edge, verge; akin to Sw. brink declivity, hill, Icel. brekka; cf. LG. brink a grassy hill, W. bryn hill, bryncyn hillock.]
- watcher n.
- One who watches; one who sits up or continues; a diligent observer; specifically, one who attends upon the sick during the night.
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
- descry
- , Discovery or view, as of an army seen at a distance.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In an Orchard is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems - First Series, Project Gutenberg ebook #37860; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Collings Squire, In an Orchard, in Poems: First Series (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37860, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/squire-poems/in-an-orchard.html, id L23176.
Form and metre
In an Orchard is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABAB wiseA · sunB · eyesA · runB
- 2 ABAB linkA · standB · brinkA · landB
- 3 ABAB iA · nowB · descryA · howB
- 4 ABAB dropA · flameB · topA · nameB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Airy and quick and wise | 6 | /˘···· |
| In the shed light of the sun, | 7 | ······· |
| You clasp with friendly eyes | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The thoughts from mine that run. | 6 | ······ |
| But something breaks the link; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I solitary stand | 6 | ·/˘·˘· |
| By a giant gully's brink | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| In some vast gloomy land. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Sole central watcher, I | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| With steadfast sadness now | 6 | ·/·/˘· |
| In that waste place descry | 6 | ····˘/ |
| 'Neath the awful heavens how | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Your life doth dizzy drop | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A little foam of flame | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| From a peak without a top | 7 | ······· |
| To a pit without a name. | 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.