The Swallow
Had I, my love declared, the tireless wingThat wafts the swallow to her northern skies,I would not, sheer within the rich surpriseOf full-blown Summer, like the swallow, flingMy coyer being; but would follow Spring,Melodious consort, as she daily flies,Apace with suns, that o’er new woodlands riseEach morn—with rains her gentler stages bring.My pinions should beat music with her own;Her smiles and odors should delight me ever,Gliding, with measured progress, from the zoneWhere golden seas receive the mighty river,Unto yon lichened cliffs, whose ridges severOur Norseland from the arctic surge’s moan.
Words in this poem
- apace adv.
- With a quick pace; quick; fast; speedily. [Pref. a- + pace. OE. a pas at a walk, in which a is the article. See Pace.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- lichened a.
- Belonging to, or covered with, lichens.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Swallow is in the public domain. This text is taken from The poetical works of Edmund Clarence Stedman, Project Gutenberg ebook #70763; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edmund Clarence Stedman, The Swallow, in The Poetical Works of Edmund Clarence Stedman (1860–1897), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70763, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stedman-poems/the-swallow.html, id L10685.
Form and metre
The Swallow is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 43% 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 ABBAABBACDC-DC wingA · skiesB · surpriseB · flingA · springA · fliesB · riseB · bringA · ownC · everD · zoneC · river · severD · moanC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Had I, my love declared, the tireless wing | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| That wafts the swallow to her northern skies, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| I would not, sheer within the rich surprise | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Of full-blown Summer, like the swallow, fling | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| My coyer being; but would follow Spring, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Melodious consort, as she daily flies, | 10 | ˘/˘˘/··/˘· |
| Apace with suns, that o’er new woodlands rise | 10 | ˘/·····/·· |
| Each morn—with rains her gentler stages bring. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| My pinions should beat music with her own; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Her smiles and odors should delight me ever, | 11 | ···/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| Gliding, with measured progress, from the zone | 10 | /˘·/˘˘/··· |
| Where golden seas receive the mighty river, | 11 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Unto yon lichened cliffs, whose ridges sever | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Our Norseland from the arctic surge’s moan. | 11 | /·····/˘/˘· |
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.