The Fisher’s Boy
My life is like a stroll upon the beach,As near the ocean’s edge as I can go;My tardy steps its waves sometimes o’erreach,Sometimes I stay to let them overflow.
My sole employment ’tis, and scrupulous care,To place my gains beyond the reach of tides,Each smoother pebble, and each shell more rare,Which Ocean kindly to my hand confides.
I have but few companions on the shore:They scorn the strand who sail upon the sea;Yet oft I think the ocean they’ve sailed o’erIs deeper known upon the strand to me.
The middle sea contains no crimson dulse,Its deeper waves cast up no pearls to view;Along the shore my hand is on its pulse,And I converse with many a shipwrecked crew.
Words in this poem
- smoother n.
- One who, or that which, smooths.
- dulse n.
- A seaweed of a reddish brown color, which is sometimes eaten, as in Scotland. The true dulse is Sarcophyllis edulis; the common is Rhodymenia. [Cf. Gael. duileasg; duille leaf + uisge water. Cf. Whisky.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Fisher’s Boy is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Nature, Project Gutenberg ebook #59988; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry David Thoreau, The Fisher’s Boy, in Poems of Nature (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59988, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thoreau-poems/the-fisher-s-boy.html, id L02796.
Form and metre
The Fisher’s Boy is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 6% 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 ABAB beachA · goB · o'erreachA · overflowB
- 2 ABAB careA · tidesB · rareA · confidesB
- 3 -A-A shore · seaA · o'er · meA
- 4 ABAB dulseA · viewB · pulseA · crewB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| My life is like a stroll upon the beach, | 10 | ·········· |
| As near the ocean’s edge as I can go; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| My tardy steps its waves sometimes o’erreach, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Sometimes I stay to let them overflow. | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| My sole employment ’tis, and scrupulous care, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| To place my gains beyond the reach of tides, | 10 | ·········· |
| Each smoother pebble, and each shell more rare, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Which Ocean kindly to my hand confides. | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| I have but few companions on the shore: | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| They scorn the strand who sail upon the sea; | 10 | ·········· |
| Yet oft I think the ocean they’ve sailed o’er | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Is deeper known upon the strand to me. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The middle sea contains no crimson dulse, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| Its deeper waves cast up no pearls to view; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Along the shore my hand is on its pulse, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| And I converse with many a shipwrecked crew. | 10 | ··˘/·/·/˘· |
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.