The Path
RUNNING along a bank, a parapetThat saves from the precipitous wood belowThe level road, there is a path. It servesChildren for looking down the long smooth steep,Between the legs of beech and yew, to whereA fallen tree checks the sight: while men and womenContent themselves with the road and what they seeOver the bank, and what the children tell.The path, winding like silver, trickles on,Bordered and even invaded by thinnest mossThat tries to cover roots and crumbling chalkWith gold, olive, and emerald, but in vain.The children wear it. They have flattened the bankOn top, and silvered it between the mossWith the current of their feet, year after year.But the road is houseless, and leads not to school.To see a child is rare there, and the eyeHas but the road, the wood that overhangsAnd underyawns it, and the path that looksAs if it led on to some legendaryOr fancied place where men have wished to goAnd stay; till, sudden, it ends where the wood ends.
Words in this poem
- houseless a.
- Destitute of the shelter of a house; shelterless; homeless; as, a houseless wanderer.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Path 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, The Path, in Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22423, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thomas-edward-poems/the-path.html, id L08145.
Form and metre
The Path is 22 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 68% 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---B--BC---C------A- parapet · belowA · serves · steep · where · womenB · see · tell · onB · mossC · chalk · vain · bank · mossC · year · school · eye · overhangs · looks · legendary · goA · ends
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 |
|---|---|---|
| RUNNING along a bank, a parapet | 10 | /˘˘/···/˘· |
| That saves from the precipitous wood below | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| The level road, there is a path. It serves | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Children for looking down the long smooth steep, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Between the legs of beech and yew, to where | 10 | ·········· |
| A fallen tree checks the sight: while men and women | 12 | ·/˘·······/˘ |
| Content themselves with the road and what they see | 11 | ˘/˘/······· |
| Over the bank, and what the children tell. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The path, winding like silver, trickles on, | 10 | ··/˘·/˘/˘· |
| Bordered and even invaded by thinnest moss | 11 | /˘·/˘/˘·/˘· |
| That tries to cover roots and crumbling chalk | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| With gold, olive, and emerald, but in vain. | 10 | ··/˘·/˘··· |
| The children wear it. They have flattened the bank | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| On top, and silvered it between the moss | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| With the current of their feet, year after year. | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| But the road is houseless, and leads not to school. | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| To see a child is rare there, and the eye | 10 | ·········· |
| Has but the road, the wood that overhangs | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And underyawns it, and the path that looks | 10 | ·········· |
| As if it led on to some legendary | 11 | ·······/˘·˘ |
| Or fancied place where men have wished to go | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And stay; till, sudden, it ends where the wood ends. | 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.