The Fugitive
Flying his hair and his eyes averse,Fleet are his feet and his heart apart.How could our song his charms rehearse?Fleet are his feet and his heart apart.
High on a down we found him last,Shy as a hare, he fled as fast;How could we clasp him or ever he passed?Fleet are his feet and his heart apart.
How could we cling to his limbs that shone,Ravish his cheeks' red gonfalon,Or the wild-skin cloak that he had on?Fleet are his feet and his heart apart.
For the wind of his feet still straightly shaping,He loosed at our breasts from his eyes escapingOne crooked swift glance like a javelin leaping.Fleet are his feet and his heart apart.
And his feet passed over the sunset landFrom the place forlorn where a forlorn bandWatching him flying we still did stand.Fleet are his feet and his heart apart.
Vanishing now who would not stayTo the blue hills on the verge of day.O soft! soft! Music play,Fading away,(Fleet are his feetAnd his heart apart)Fading away.
Words in this poem
- averse a.
- Turned away or backward. [L. aversus, p. p. of avertere. See Avert.]
- gonfalon n.
- The ensign or standard in use by certain princes or states, such as the mediæval republics of Italy, and in more recent times by the pope. [OE. gonfanoun, OF. gonfanon, F. gonfalon, the same word as F. confalon, name of a religious brotherhood, fr. OHG. gundfano war flag; gund war (used in comp., an]
- straightly adv.
- In a right line; not crookedly.
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Fugitive 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, The Fugitive, in Poems: First Series (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37860, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/squire-poems/the-fugitive.html, id L23170.
Form and metre
The Fugitive is 27 lines in 6 stanzas. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 72%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABAB averseA · apartB · rehearseA · apartB
- 2 AAA- lastA · fastA · passedA · apart
- 3 -AA- shone · gonfalonA · onA · apart
- 4 AA-- shapingA · escapingA · leaping · apart
- 5 AAA- landA · bandA · standA · apart
- 6 AAAA--A stayA · dayA · playA · awayA · feet · apart · awayA
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 trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Flying his hair and his eyes averse, | 9 | /˘·····˘/ |
| Fleet are his feet and his heart apart. | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| How could our song his charms rehearse? | 8 | ··/···˘/ |
| Fleet are his feet and his heart apart. | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| High on a down we found him last, | 8 | ········ |
| Shy as a hare, he fled as fast; | 8 | ········ |
| How could we clasp him or ever he passed? | 9 | ······/·· |
| Fleet are his feet and his heart apart. | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| How could we cling to his limbs that shone, | 9 | ········· |
| Ravish his cheeks' red gonfalon, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Or the wild-skin cloak that he had on? | 9 | ········· |
| Fleet are his feet and his heart apart. | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| For the wind of his feet still straightly shaping, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| He loosed at our breasts from his eyes escaping | 11 | ···/····˘/˘ |
| One crooked swift glance like a javelin leaping. | 11 | ·/˘····/˘/˘ |
| Fleet are his feet and his heart apart. | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| And his feet passed over the sunset land | 9 | ······/·· |
| From the place forlorn where a forlorn band | 10 | ···˘/··˘/· |
| Watching him flying we still did stand. | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| Fleet are his feet and his heart apart. | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Vanishing now who would not stay | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| To the blue hills on the verge of day. | 9 | ········· |
| O soft! soft! Music play, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Fading away, | 4 | /˘˘/ |
| (Fleet are his feet | 4 | ···· |
| And his heart apart) | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Fading away. | 4 | /˘˘/ |
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.