Moving House
My old desire to live in the Southern VillageWas not because I had taken a fancy to the house.But I heard it was a place of simple-minded menWith whom it were a joy to spend the mornings and evenings.Many years I had longed to settle here:Now at last I have managed to move house.I do not mind if my cottage is rather smallSo long as there’s room enough for bed and mat.Often and often the neighbours come to see meAnd with brave words discuss the things of old.Rare writings we read together and praise:Doubtful meanings we examine together and settle.
Words in this poem
- discuss v. t.
- To break to pieces; to shatter. Sir T. Browne. [L. discussus, p. p. of discutere to strike asunder (hence came the sense to separate mentally, distinguish); dis- + quatere to shake, strike. See Quash.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Moving House is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #42290, the Arthur Waley translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Various, Moving House, in A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #42290, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waley-chinese/moving-house.html, id L18785.
Form and metre
Moving House is 12 lines in a single stanza. 75% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.9 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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------ village · houseA · men · evenings · here · houseA · small · mat · me · old · praise · settle
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| My old desire to live in the Southern Village | 13 | ··˘/˘····/˘/˘ |
| Was not because I had taken a fancy to the house. | 14 | ······/˘·/˘··· |
| But I heard it was a place of simple-minded men | 13 | ········/˘/˘· |
| With whom it were a joy to spend the mornings and evenings. | 14 | ·········/˘·/˘ |
| Many years I had longed to settle here: | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Now at last I have managed to move house. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I do not mind if my cottage is rather small | 12 | ······/˘·/˘· |
| So long as there’s room enough for bed and mat. | 11 | ·····˘/···· |
| Often and often the neighbours come to see me | 12 | /˘·/˘·/˘···· |
| And with brave words discuss the things of old. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Rare writings we read together and praise: | 10 | ·/˘··˘/˘·· |
| Doubtful meanings we examine together and settle. | 14 | /˘/˘·˘/˘˘/˘·/˘ |
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.