In a Garden
The world is resting without sound or motion,Behind the apple tree the sun goes downPainting with fire the spires and the windowsIn the elm-shaded town.
Beyond the calm Connecticut the hills lieSilvered with haze as fruits still fresh with bloom,The swallows weave in flight across the zenithOn an aerial loom.
Into the garden peace comes back with twilight,Peace that since noon had left the purple phlox,The heavy-headed asters, the late rosesAnd swaying hollyhocks.
For at high-noon I heard from this same gardenThe far-off murmur as when many come;Up from the village surged the blind and beatingRed music of a drum;
And the hysterical sharp fife that shatteredThe brittle autumn air,While they came, the young men marchingPast the village square. . . .
Across the calm Connecticut the hills changeTo violet, the veils of dusk are deep--Earth takes her children's many sorrows calmlyAnd stills herself to sleep.
Words in this poem
- phlox n.
- A genus of American herbs, having showy red, white, or purple flowers. Phlox worm (Zoöl.), the larva of an American moth (Heliothis phloxiphaga). It is destructive to phloxes.
- hysterical a.
- Of or pertaining to hysteria; affected, or troubled, with hysterics; convulsive, fitful. [L. hystericus, Gr. utter, out.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In a Garden is in the public domain. This text is taken from Flame and Shadow, Project Gutenberg ebook #591; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sara Teasdale, In a Garden, in Flame and Shadow (1920), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #591, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/teasdale-flame-shadow/in-a-garden.html, id L16999.
Form and metre
In a Garden is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.9 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 46% 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 AA-A motionA · downA · windows · townA
- 2 -A-A lie · bloomA · zenith · loomA
- 4 -A-A garden · comeA · beating · drumA
- 5 -A-A shattered · airA · marching · squareA
- 6 -A-A change · deepA · calmly · sleepA
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 world is resting without sound or motion, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Behind the apple tree the sun goes down | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Painting with fire the spires and the windows | 11 | /˘·/˘····/˘ |
| In the elm-shaded town. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Beyond the calm Connecticut the hills lie | 11 | ····˘/˘˘··· |
| Silvered with haze as fruits still fresh with bloom, | 10 | /˘········ |
| The swallows weave in flight across the zenith | 11 | ·/˘···˘/·/˘ |
| On an aerial loom. | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| Into the garden peace comes back with twilight, | 11 | ···/˘····/· |
| Peace that since noon had left the purple phlox, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The heavy-headed asters, the late roses | 11 | ·/˘/˘/˘··/˘ |
| And swaying hollyhocks. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| For at high-noon I heard from this same garden | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| The far-off murmur as when many come; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Up from the village surged the blind and beating | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Red music of a drum; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And the hysterical sharp fife that shattered | 11 | ··˘/˘˘···/˘ |
| The brittle autumn air, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| While they came, the young men marching | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Past the village square. . . . | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Across the calm Connecticut the hills change | 11 | ˘/··˘/˘˘··· |
| To violet, the veils of dusk are deep-- | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Earth takes her children's many sorrows calmly | 11 | ···/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| And stills herself to sleep. | 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.