Approaching Carolina
The book of moonlight is not written yetNor half begun, but, when it is, leave roomFor Crispin, fagot in the lunar fire,Who, in the hubbub of his pilgrimageThrough sweating changes, never could forgetThat wakefulness or meditating sleep,In which the sulky strophes willinglyBore up, in time, the somnolent, deep songs.Leave room, therefore, in that unwritten bookFor the legendary moonlight that once burnedIn Crispin’s mind above a continent.America was always north to him,A northern west or western north, but north,And thereby polar, polar-purple, chilledAnd lank, rising and slumping from a seaOf hardy foam, receding flatly, spreadIn endless ledges, glittering, submergedAnd cold in a boreal mistiness of the moon.The spring came there in clinking panniclesOf half-dissolving frost, the summer came,If ever, whisked and wet, not ripening,Before the winter’s vacancy returned.The myrtle, if the myrtle ever bloomed,Was like a glacial pink upon the air.The green palmettoes in crepuscular iceClipped frigidly blue-black meridians,Morose chiaroscuro, gauntly drawn.
How many poems he denied himselfIn his observant progress, lesser thingsThan the relentless contact he desired;How many sea-masks he ignored; what soundsHe shut out from his tempering ear; what thoughts,Like jades affecting the sequestered bride;And what descants, he sent to banishment!Perhaps the Arctic moonlight really gaveThe liaison, the blissful liaison,Between himself and his environment,Which was, and is, chief motive, first delight,For him, and not for him alone. It seemedIllusive, faint, more mist than moon, perverse,Wrong as a divagation to Peking,To him that postulated as his themeThe vulgar, as his theme and hymn and flight,A passionately niggling nightingale.Moonlight was an evasion, or, if not,A minor meeting, facile, delicate.
Thus he conceived his voyaging to beAn up and down between two elements,A fluctuating between sun and moon,A sally into gold and crimson forms,As on this voyage, out of goblinry,And then retirement like a turning backAnd sinking down to the indulgencesThat in the moonlight have their habitude.But let these backward lapses, if they would,Grind their seductions on him, Crispin knewIt was a flourishing tropic he requiredFor his refreshment, an abundant zone,Prickly and obdurate, dense, harmoniousYet with a harmony not rarefiedNor fined for the inhibited instrumentsOf over-civil stops. And thus he tossedBetween a Carolina of old time,A little juvenile, an ancient whim,And the visible, circumspect presentment drawnFrom what he saw across his vessel’s prow.
He came. The poetic hero without palmsOr jugglery, without regalia.And as he came he saw that it was spring,A time abhorrent to the nihilistOr searcher for the fecund minimum.The moonlight fiction disappeared. The spring,Although contending featly in its veils,Irised in dew and early fragrancies,Was gemmy marionette to him that soughtA sinewy nakedness. A river boreThe vessel inward. Tilting up his nose,He inhaled the rancid rosin, burly smellsOf dampened lumber, emanations blownFrom warehouse doors, the gustiness of ropes,Decays of sacks, and all the arrant stinksThat helped him round his rude aesthetic out.He savored rankness like a sensualist.He marked the marshy ground around the dock,The crawling railroad spur, the rotten fence,Curriculum for the marvellous sophomore.It purified. It made him see how muchOf what he saw he never saw at all.He gripped more closely the essential proseAs being, in a world so falsified,The one integrity for him, the oneDiscovery still possible to make,To which all poems were incident, unlessThat prose should wear a poem’s guise at last.
Words in this poem 41
- crispin n.
- A shoemaker; -- jocularly so called from the patron sant of the craft.
- hubbub n.
- A loud noise of many confused voices; a tumult; uproar. [Cf. Whoobub, Whoop, Hoop, v. i.]
- pilgrimage n.
- The journey of a pilgrim; a long journey; especially, a journey to a shrine or other sacred place. Fig., the journey of human life. [OE. pilgrimage, pelgrinage; cf. F. pèlerinage.]
- willingly adv.
- In a willing manner; with free will; without reluctance; cheerfully.
- somnolent a.
- Sleepy; drowsy; inclined to sleep. [F. somnolent, L. somnolentus, from somnus sleep, akin to Gr. svapna sleep, dream, svap to sleep, Icel. sofa, AS. swefn sleep. Cf. Hypnotic, Somnambulism, Sopori]
- unwritten a.
- Not written; not reduced to writing; oral; as, unwritten agreements.
- continent a.
- Serving to restrain or limit; restraining; opposing. [L. continens, -entis, prop., p. pr. of continere to hold together, to repress: cf. F. continent. See Contain.]
- chilled a.
- Hardened on the surface or edge by chilling; as, chilled iron; a chilled wheel.
- flatly adv.
- In a flat manner; evenly; horizontally; without spirit; dully; frigidly; peremptori;y; positively, plainly.
- boreal a.
- Northern; pertaining to the north, or to the north wind; as, a boreal bird; a boreal blast. [L. borealis: cf. F. boréal. See Boreas.]
- mistiness n.
- State of being misty.
- vacancy n.
- The quality or state of being vacant; emptiness; hence, freedom from employment; intermission; leisure; idleness; listlessness. [Cf. F. vacance.]
- crepuscular a.
- Pertaining to twilight; glimmering; hence, imperfectly clear or luminous. [Cf. F. cr.]
- frigidly adv.
- In a frigid manner; coldly; dully; without affection.
- gauntly adv.
- In a gaunt manner; meagerly.
- relentless a.
- Unmoved by appeals for sympathy or forgiveness; insensible to the distresses of others; destitute of tenderness; unrelenting; unyielding; unpitying; as, a prey to relentless despotism.
- liaison n.
- A union, or bond of union; an intimacy; especially, an illicit intimacy between a man and a woman. [F., fr. L. ligatio, fr. ligare to bind. See Ligature, and cf. Ligation.]
- blissful a.
- Full of, characterized by, or causing, joy and felicity; happy in the highest degree.
- illusive a.
- Deceiving by false show; deceitful; deceptive; false; illusory; unreal. [See Illude.]
- divagation n.
- A wandering about or going astray; digression. [L. divagari to wander about; di- = dis- + vagari to stroll about: cf. F. divagation. See Vagary.]
- postulated a.
- Assumed without proof; as, a postulated inference. Sir T.
- passionately adv.
- In a passionate manner; with strong feeling; ardently.
- niggling n.
- Finicky or pottering work; specif. (Fine Arts),
- facile a.
- Easy to be done or performed: not difficult; performable or attainable with little labor. [L. facilis, prop., capable of being done or made, hence, facile, easy, fr. facere to make, do: cf. F. facile. Srr Fact, and cf. Faculty.]
- habitude n.
- Habitual attitude; usual or accustomed state with reference to something else; established or usual relations. South. [F., fr. L. habitudo condition. See Habit.]
- juvenile a.
- Young; youthful; as, a juvenile appearance. [L. juvenilis, from juvenis young; akin to E. young: cf. F. juvénile, juvénil. See Young.]
- presentment n.
- The act of presenting, or the state of being presented; presentation.
- jugglery n.
- The art or act of a juggler; sleight of hand. [OE. & OF. joglerie, F. jonglerie.]
- regalia n.
- That which belongs to royalty. Specifically: (a) The rights and prerogatives of a king. (b) Royal estates and revenues. (c) Ensings, symbols, or paraphernalia of royalty. [LL., from L. regalisregal. See Regal.]
- abhorrent a.
- Abhorring; detesting; having or showing abhorrence; loathing; hence, strongly opposed to; as, abhorrent thoughts. [L. abhorens, -rentis, p. pr. of abhorrere.]
- nihilist n.
- One who advocates the doctrine of nihilism; one who believes or teaches that nothing can be known, or asserted to exist. [Cf. F. nihiliste. See Nihilism.]
- fecund a.
- Fruitful in children; prolific. Graunt. [L. fecundus, from the root of fetus: cf. F. fécond. see Fetus.]
- featly adv.
- Neatly; dexterously; nimbly. [From Feat, a.]
- irised a.
- Having colors like those of the rainbow; iridescent. Holmes. [See Iris.]
- gemmy a.
- Full of gems; bright; glittering like a gem. [From Gem, n.]
- marionette n.
- A puppet moved by strings, as in a puppet show. [F. marionette, prop. a dim. of Marie Mary.]
- nakedness n.
- The condition of being naked.
- arrant a.
- Notoriously or preëminently bad; thorough or downright, in a bad sense; shameless; unmitigated; as, an arrant rogue or coward. [OE. erraunt, errant, errand, equiv. to E. errant wandering, which was first applied to vagabonds, as an errant rogue, an errant thief, and hence passed graduall]
- rankness n.
- The condition or quality of being rank. [AS. rancness pride.]
- sensualist n.
- One who is sensual; one given to the indulgence of the appetites or senses as the means of happiness. [CF. F. sensualiste.]
- curriculum n.
- A race course; a place for running. [L. See Curricle.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Approaching Carolina is in the public domain. This text is taken from Harmonium, Project Gutenberg ebook #78743; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Wallace Stevens, Approaching Carolina, in Harmonium (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #78743, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stevens-harmonium/approaching-carolina.html, id L01024.
Form and metre
Approaching Carolina is 94 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 21 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 A---A----B-----------B----- yetA · room · fire · pilgrimage · forgetA · sleep · willingly · songs · book · burnedB · continent · him · north · chilled · sea · spread · submerged · moon · pannicles · came · ripening · returnedB · bloomed · air · ice · meridians · drawn
- 2 --A--A----B----B--B himself · things · desiredA · sounds · thoughts · brideA · banishment · gave · liaison · environment · delightB · seemed · perverse · peking · theme · flightB · nightingale · not · delicateB
- 3 --------A-A--------- be · elements · moon · forms · goblinry · back · indulgences · habitude · wouldA · knew · requiredA · zone · harmonious · rarefied · instruments · tossed · time · whim · drawn · prow
- 4 --A--A---BC--------B--C----- palms · regalia · springA · nihilist · minimum · springA · veils · fragrancies · sought · boreB · noseC · smells · blown · ropes · stinks · out · sensualist · dock · fence · sophomoreB · much · all · proseC · falsified · one · make · unless · last
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The book of moonlight is not written yet | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Nor half begun, but, when it is, leave room | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| For Crispin, fagot in the lunar fire, | 11 | ·/˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Who, in the hubbub of his pilgrimage | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Through sweating changes, never could forget | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| That wakefulness or meditating sleep, | 11 | ······/˘·˘· |
| In which the sulky strophes willingly | 9 | ···/˘·/˘˘ |
| Bore up, in time, the somnolent, deep songs. | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Leave room, therefore, in that unwritten book | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| For the legendary moonlight that once burned | 11 | ··/˘·˘/···· |
| In Crispin’s mind above a continent. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| America was always north to him, | 10 | ˘/˘˘·/˘··· |
| A northern west or western north, but north, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And thereby polar, polar-purple, chilled | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| And lank, rising and slumping from a sea | 10 | ··/˘·/˘··· |
| Of hardy foam, receding flatly, spread | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘· |
| In endless ledges, glittering, submerged | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| And cold in a boreal mistiness of the moon. | 13 | ····/˘˘/˘˘··· |
| The spring came there in clinking pannicles | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Of half-dissolving frost, the summer came, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| If ever, whisked and wet, not ripening, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| Before the winter’s vacancy returned. | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| The myrtle, if the myrtle ever bloomed, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Was like a glacial pink upon the air. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The green palmettoes in crepuscular ice | 11 | ··˘/˘······ |
| Clipped frigidly blue-black meridians, | 10 | ·/˘˘··˘/˘˘ |
| Morose chiaroscuro, gauntly drawn. | 9 | ˘/····/˘· |
| How many poems he denied himself | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘/ |
| In his observant progress, lesser things | 10 | ··˘/˘/·/˘· |
| Than the relentless contact he desired; | 11 | ··˘/˘/··˘/˘ |
| How many sea-masks he ignored; what sounds | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| He shut out from his tempering ear; what thoughts, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Like jades affecting the sequestered bride; | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| And what descants, he sent to banishment! | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Perhaps the Arctic moonlight really gave | 10 | ˘/·/˘/·/˘· |
| The liaison, the blissful liaison, | 10 | ·˘/··/˘˘/· |
| Between himself and his environment, | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘˘ |
| Which was, and is, chief motive, first delight, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| For him, and not for him alone. It seemed | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Illusive, faint, more mist than moon, perverse, | 10 | ˘/˘·····˘/ |
| Wrong as a divagation to Peking, | 10 | ········// |
| To him that postulated as his theme | 10 | ···/˘·˘··· |
| The vulgar, as his theme and hymn and flight, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| A passionately niggling nightingale. | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Moonlight was an evasion, or, if not, | 10 | /···˘/˘··· |
| A minor meeting, facile, delicate. | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Thus he conceived his voyaging to be | 10 | ··˘/·/˘˘·· |
| An up and down between two elements, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| A fluctuating between sun and moon, | 10 | ·/˘·˘····· |
| A sally into gold and crimson forms, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| As on this voyage, out of goblinry, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And then retirement like a turning back | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| And sinking down to the indulgences | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘˘ |
| That in the moonlight have their habitude. | 10 | ···/···/˘˘ |
| But let these backward lapses, if they would, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Grind their seductions on him, Crispin knew | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| It was a flourishing tropic he required | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| For his refreshment, an abundant zone, | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Prickly and obdurate, dense, harmonious | 11 | /˘·/˘˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Yet with a harmony not rarefied | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| Nor fined for the inhibited instruments | 11 | ····˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Of over-civil stops. And thus he tossed | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Between a Carolina of old time, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| A little juvenile, an ancient whim, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And the visible, circumspect presentment drawn | 11 | ··/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| From what he saw across his vessel’s prow. | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| He came. The poetic hero without palms | 11 | ···˘/˘/˘··· |
| Or jugglery, without regalia. | 9 | ·/˘˘··˘/˘ |
| And as he came he saw that it was spring, | 10 | ·········· |
| A time abhorrent to the nihilist | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| Or searcher for the fecund minimum. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| The moonlight fiction disappeared. The spring, | 10 | ·/·/˘·˘/·· |
| Although contending featly in its veils, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Irised in dew and early fragrancies, | 10 | /˘˘···/˘·· |
| Was gemmy marionette to him that sought | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| A sinewy nakedness. A river bore | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| The vessel inward. Tilting up his nose, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| He inhaled the rancid rosin, burly smells | 11 | ·˘/·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Of dampened lumber, emanations blown | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| From warehouse doors, the gustiness of ropes, | 10 | ·/········ |
| Decays of sacks, and all the arrant stinks | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| That helped him round his rude aesthetic out. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| He savored rankness like a sensualist. | 11 | ·/˘/˘··/˘˘˘ |
| He marked the marshy ground around the dock, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The crawling railroad spur, the rotten fence, | 10 | ·/˘/···/˘· |
| Curriculum for the marvellous sophomore. | 10 | ˘/˘·····/· |
| It purified. It made him see how much | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Of what he saw he never saw at all. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| He gripped more closely the essential prose | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| As being, in a world so falsified, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The one integrity for him, the one | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| Discovery still possible to make, | 10 | ˘/˘˘·/˘˘·· |
| To which all poems were incident, unless | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| That prose should wear a poem’s guise at last. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
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