In the Park
This dense hard ground I tread.These iron bars that ripple past,Will they unshaken stand when I am deadAnd my deep thoughts outlast?
Is it my spirit slips,Falls, like this leaf I kick aside;This firmness that I feel about my lips,Is it but empty pride?
Mute knowledge conquers me;I contemplate them as they are,Faint earth and shadowy bars that shake and flee,Less hard, more transient far
Than those unbodied huesThe sunset flings on the calm river;And, as I look, a swiftness thrills my shoesAnd my hands with empire quiver.
Now light the ground I tread,I walk not now but rather float;Clear but unreal is the scene outspread,Pitiful, thin, remote.
Poor vapour is the grass,So frail the trees and railings seem,That, did I sweep my hand around, 'twould passThrough them, as in a dream.
Godlike I fear no changes;Shatter the world with thunders loud,Still would I ray-like flit about the rangesOf dark and ruddy cloud.
Words in this poem
- outlast v. t.
- To exceed in duration; to survive; to endure longer than.
- contemplate v. t.
- To look at on all sides or in all its bearings; to view or consider with continued attention; to regard with deliberate care; to meditate on; to study. [L. contemplatus, p.p. of contemplari to contemplate; con- + templum a space for observation marked out by the augur. See Temple.]
- outspread v. t.
- To spread out; to expand; -- usually as a past part. or adj.
- vapour n.
- Any substance in the gaseous, or aëriform, state, the condition of which is ordinarily that of a liquid or solid. [OE. vapour, OF. vapour, vapor, vapeur, F. vapeur, L. vapor; probably for cvapor, and akin to Gr. kvepti to breathe, smell, Russ. kopote fine soot. Cf. Vapid.]
- flit a.
- Nimble; quick; swift. See Fleet.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In the Park 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 the Park, in Poems: First Series (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37860, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/squire-poems/in-the-park.html, id L23175.
Form and metre
In the Park is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
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.
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 treadA · pastB · deadA · outlastB
- 2 ABAB slipsA · asideB · lipsA · prideB
- 3 ABAB meA · areB · fleeA · farB
- 4 ABAB huesA · riverB · shoesA · quiverB
- 5 ABAB treadA · floatB · outspreadA · remoteB
- 6 ABAB grassA · seemB · passA · dreamB
- 7 ABAB changesA · loudB · rangesA · cloudB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| This dense hard ground I tread. | 6 | ······ |
| These iron bars that ripple past, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Will they unshaken stand when I am dead | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| And my deep thoughts outlast? | 6 | ····/· |
| Is it my spirit slips, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Falls, like this leaf I kick aside; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| This firmness that I feel about my lips, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Is it but empty pride? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Mute knowledge conquers me; | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| I contemplate them as they are, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Faint earth and shadowy bars that shake and flee, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Less hard, more transient far | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Than those unbodied hues | 5 | ····· |
| The sunset flings on the calm river; | 9 | ·/·····/˘ |
| And, as I look, a swiftness thrills my shoes | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And my hands with empire quiver. | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
| Now light the ground I tread, | 6 | ······ |
| I walk not now but rather float; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Clear but unreal is the scene outspread, | 9 | ··˘/···˘/ |
| Pitiful, thin, remote. | 6 | /˘˘·˘/ |
| Poor vapour is the grass, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| So frail the trees and railings seem, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That, did I sweep my hand around, 'twould pass | 10 | ·········· |
| Through them, as in a dream. | 6 | ······ |
| Godlike I fear no changes; | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| Shatter the world with thunders loud, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Still would I ray-like flit about the ranges | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Of dark and ruddy cloud. | 6 | ···/˘· |
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.