Adlestrop
YES. I remember Adlestrop--The name, because one afternoonOf heat the express-train drew up thereUnwontedly. It was late June.
The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.No one left and no one cameOn the bare platform. What I sawWas Adlestrop--only the name
And willows, willow-herb, and grass,And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,No whit less still and lonely fairThan the high cloudlets in the sky.
And for that minute a blackbird sangClose by, and round him, mistier,Farther and farther, all the birdsOf Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.
Words in this poem
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
- whit n.
- The smallest part or particle imaginable; a bit; a jot; an iota; -- generally used in an adverbial phrase in a negative sentence. [OE. wight, wiht, AS. wiht a creature, a thing. See Wight, and cf. Aught, Naught.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Adlestrop is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #22423; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edward Thomas, Adlestrop, in Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22423, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thomas-edward-poems/adlestrop.html, id L08171.
Form and metre
Adlestrop is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 adlestrop · afternoonA · there · juneA
- 2 -A-A throat · cameA · saw · nameA
- 3 -A-A grass · dryA · fair · skyA
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| YES. I remember Adlestrop-- | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| The name, because one afternoon | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Of heat the express-train drew up there | 9 | ···˘/···· |
| Unwontedly. It was late June. | 8 | ········ |
| The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat. | 10 | ···˘/··˘·· |
| No one left and no one came | 7 | ······· |
| On the bare platform. What I saw | 8 | ···/···· |
| Was Adlestrop--only the name | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| And willows, willow-herb, and grass, | 8 | ·/·/···· |
| And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| No whit less still and lonely fair | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Than the high cloudlets in the sky. | 8 | ········ |
| And for that minute a blackbird sang | 9 | ···˘/·/˘· |
| Close by, and round him, mistier, | 7 | ······· |
| Farther and farther, all the birds | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. | 9 | ········· |
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.