The Song for Colin
I sang a song at dusking timeBeneath the evening star,And Terence left his latest rhymeTo answer from afar.
Pierrot laid down his lute to weep,And sighed, "She sings for me."But Colin slept a careless sleepBeneath an apple tree.
Words in this poem
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- colin n.
- The American quail or bobwhite. The name is also applied to other related species. See Bobwhite. [F. colin; prop. a dim. of Colas, contr. fr. Nicolas Nicholas.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Song for Colin is in the public domain. This text is taken from Love Songs, Project Gutenberg ebook #442; 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, The Song for Colin, in Love Songs (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #442, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/teasdale-love-songs/the-song-for-colin.html, id L08044.
Form and metre
The Song for Colin is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 99%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 timeA · starB · rhymeA · afarB
- 2 ABAB weepA · meB · sleepA · treeB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I sang a song at dusking time | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Beneath the evening star, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And Terence left his latest rhyme | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To answer from afar. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Pierrot laid down his lute to weep, | 8 | ········ |
| And sighed, "She sings for me." | 7 | ··˘···· |
| But Colin slept a careless sleep | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Beneath an apple tree. | 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.