Block City
What are you able to build with your blocks?Castles and palaces, temples and docks.Rain may keep raining, and others go roam,But I can be happy and building at home.
Let the sofa be mountains, the carpet be sea,There I'll establish a city for me:A kirk and a mill and a palace beside,And a harbour as well where my vessels may ride.
Great is the palace with pillar and wall,A sort of a tower on the top of it all,And steps coming down in an orderly wayTo where my toy vessels lie safe in the bay.
This one is sailing and that one is moored:Hark to the song of the sailors aboard!And see, on the steps of my palace, the kingsComing and going with presents and things!
Now I have done with it, down let it go!All in a moment the town is laid low.Block upon block lying scattered and free,What is there left of my town by the sea?
Yet as I saw it, I see it again,The kirk and the palace, the ships and the men,And as long as I live and where'er I may be,I'll always remember my town by the sea.
Words in this poem
- kirk n.
- A church or the church, in the various senses of the word; esp., the Church of Scotland as distinguished from other reformed churches, or from the Roman Catholic Church. Jamieson. [Scot.; cf. Icel. kirkja, of Greek origin. See Church.]
- harbour n.
- A station for rest and entertainment; a place of security and comfort; a refuge; a shelter. [OE herbor, herberwe, herberge, Icel. herbergi (cf. OHG. heriberga), orig., a shelter for soldiers; herr army + bjarga to save, help, defend; akin to AS. here ar]
- aboard adv.
- On board; into or within a ship or boat; hence, into or within a railway car. [Pref. a- on, in + board.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Block City is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Child's Garden of Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #136; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Louis Stevenson, Block City, in A Child's Garden of Verses (1885), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #136, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stevenson-childs-garden/block-city.html, id L07218.
Form and metre
Block City is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. 80% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.5 syllables. 8% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AABB blocksA · docksA · roamB · homeB
- 2 AABB seaA · meA · besideB · rideB
- 3 AABB wallA · allA · wayB · bayB
- 4 --AA moored · aboard · kingsA · thingsA
- 5 AABB goA · lowA · freeB · seaB
- 6 AABB againA · menA · beB · seaB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| What are you able to build with your blocks? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Castles and palaces, temples and docks. | 10 | /˘·/˘˘/˘·· |
| Rain may keep raining, and others go roam, | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| But I can be happy and building at home. | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| Let the sofa be mountains, the carpet be sea, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| There I'll establish a city for me: | 10 | ··˘/˘·/˘·· |
| A kirk and a mill and a palace beside, | 11 | ·······/˘·/ |
| And a harbour as well where my vessels may ride. | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| Great is the palace with pillar and wall, | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| A sort of a tower on the top of it all, | 11 | ····/······ |
| And steps coming down in an orderly way | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| To where my toy vessels lie safe in the bay. | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| This one is sailing and that one is moored: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Hark to the song of the sailors aboard! | 10 | ······/˘˘/ |
| And see, on the steps of my palace, the kings | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Coming and going with presents and things! | 10 | /˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Now I have done with it, down let it go! | 10 | ·········· |
| All in a moment the town is laid low. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Block upon block lying scattered and free, | 10 | ····/˘/˘·· |
| What is there left of my town by the sea? | 10 | ·········· |
| Yet as I saw it, I see it again, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The kirk and the palace, the ships and the men, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| And as long as I live and where'er I may be, | 13 | ·······˘˘/··· |
| I'll always remember my town by the sea. | 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.