A Child's Hair
A letter from abroad. I tearIts sheathing open, unawareWhat treasure gleams within; and there--Like bird from cage--Flutters a curl of golden hairOut of the page.
From such a frolic head 'twas shorn!('Tis but five years since he was born.)Not sunlight scampering over cornWere merrier thing.A child? A fragment of the morn,A piece of Spring!
Surely an ampler, fuller dayThan drapes our English skies with grey--A deeper light, a richer rayThan here we know--To this bright tress have given awayTheir living glow.
For Willie dwells where gentian flowersMake mimic sky in mountain bowers;And vineyards steeped in ardent hoursSlope to the waveWhere storied Chillon's tragic towersTheir bases lave;
And over piny tracts of VaudThe rose of eve steals up the snow;And on the waters far belowStrange sails like wingsHalf-bodilessly come and go,Fantastic things;
And tender night falls like a sighOn châlet low and château high;And the far cataract's voice comes nigh,Where no man hears;And spectral peaks impale the skyOn silver spears.
Ah, Willie, whose dissevered tressLies in my hand!--may you possessAt least one sovereign happiness,Ev'n to your grave;One boon than which I ask naught less,Naught greater crave:
May cloud and mountain, lake and vale,Never to you be trite or staleAs unto souls whose wellsprings failOr flow defiled,Till Nature's happiest fairy-taleCharms not her child!
For when the spirit waxes numb,Alien and strange these shows become,And stricken with life's tediumThe streams run dry,The choric spheres themselves are dumb,And dead the sky,--
Dead as to captives grown supine,Chained to their task in sightless mine:Above, the bland day smiles benign,Birds carol free,In thunderous throes of life divineLeaps the glad sea;
But they--their day and night are one.What is't to them, that rivulets run,Or what concern of theirs the sun?It seems as thoughTheir business with these things was doneAges ago:
Only, at times, each dulled heart feelsThat somewhere, sealed with hopeless seals,The unmeaning heaven about him reels,And he lies hurledBeyond the roar of all the wheelsOf all the world.
On what strange track one's fancies fare!To eyeless night in sunless lair'Tis a far cry from Willie's hair;And here it lies--Human, yet something which can ne'erGrow sad and wise:
Which, when the head where late it layIn life's grey dusk itself is grey,And when the curfew of life's dayBy death is tolled,Shall forfeit not the auroral rayAnd eastern gold.
Words in this poem 24
- unaware a.
- Not aware; not noticing; giving no heed; thoughtless; inattentive.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- tress n.
- A braid, knot, or curl, of hair; a ringlet. [OE. tresse, OF. trece, F. tresse, LL. tricia, fr. Gr. tri`cha threefold, because a tress is usually formed by interlacing three pieces; akin to trei^s three. Se]
- storied a.
- Told in a story. [From Story.]
- lave v. t.
- To lade, dip, or pour out. [OE. laven. See Lavish.]
- piny a.
- Abounding with pines.
- impale v. t.
- To pierce with a pale; to put to death by fixing on a sharp stake. [See 2d Empale.]
- boon n.
- A prayer or petition. [OE. bone, boin, a petition, fr. Icel. b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, AS. b, and perh. to E. ban; but influenced by F. bon good, fr. L. bonus. Ban, Bounty.]
- crave v. t.
- To ask with earnestness or importunity; to ask with submission or humility; to beg; to entreat; to beseech; to implore. [AS. crafian; akin to Icel. krefia, Sw. kr, Dan. kr.]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- stricken p. p.
- Struck; smitten; wounded; as, the stricken deer.
- tedium n.
- Irksomeness; wearisomeness; tediousness. [Written also tædium.] [L. taedium, fr. taedet it disgusts, it wearies one.]
- choric a.
- Of or pertaining to a chorus.
- supine a.
- Lying on the back, or with the face upward; -- opposed to prone. [L. supinus, akin to sub under, super above. Cf. Sub-, Super-.]
- sightless a.
- Wanting sight; without sight; blind.
- carol v. t.
- To praise or celebrate in song.
- thunderous a.
- Producing thunder. [Written also thundrous.]
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
- eyeless a.
- Without eyes; blind.
- sunless a.
- Destitute or deprived of the sun or its rays; shaded; shadowed.
- lair n.
- A place in which to lie or rest; especially, the bed or couch of a wild beast. [OE. leir, AS. leger; akin to D. leger, G. lager couch, lair, OHG. laga, Goth. ligrs, and to E. lie. See Lie to be prostrate, and cf. Layer, Leaguer.]
- curfew n.
- The ringing of an evening bell, originally a signal to the inhabitants to cover fires, extinguish lights, and retire to rest, -- instituted by William the Conqueror; also, the bell itself. [OE. courfew, curfu, fr. OF. cuevrefu, covrefeu, F. couvre-feu; covrir to cover + feu fire, fr. L. focus fireplace, hearth. See Cover, and Focus.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- auroral a.
- Belonging to, or resembling, the aurora (the dawn or the northern lights); rosy.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Child's Hair is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of William Watson, Project Gutenberg ebook #13179; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Watson, A Child's Hair, in The Poems of William Watson (1892–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13179, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/watson-poems/a-child-s-hair.html, id L11253.
Form and metre
A Child's Hair is 84 lines in 14 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AAABAB, complete in 13 of its 14 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.9 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 39% 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 AAABAB tearA · unawareA · thereA · cageB · hairA · pageB
- 2 AAABAB shornA · bornA · cornA · thingB · mornA · springB
- 3 AAABAB dayA · greyA · rayA · knowB · awayA · glowB
- 4 AAABAB flowersA · bowersA · hoursA · waveB · towersA · laveB
- 5 -AABAB vaud · snowA · belowA · wingsB · goA · thingsB
- 6 AAABAB sighA · highA · nighA · hearsB · skyA · spearsB
- 7 AAABAB tressA · possessA · happinessA · graveB · lessA · craveB
- 8 AAABAB valeA · staleA · failA · defiledB · taleA · childB
- 9 AAABAB numbA · becomeA · tediumA · dryB · dumbA · skyB
- 10 AAABAB supineA · mineA · benignA · freeB · divineA · seaB
- 11 AAABAB oneA · runA · sunA · thoughB · doneA · agoB
- 12 AAABAB feelsA · sealsA · reelsA · hurledB · wheelsA · worldB
- 13 AAABAB fareA · lairA · hairA · liesB · ne'erA · wiseB
- 14 AAABAB layA · greyA · dayA · tolledB · rayA · goldB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A letter from abroad. I tear | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Its sheathing open, unaware | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| What treasure gleams within; and there-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Like bird from cage-- | 4 | ···· |
| Flutters a curl of golden hair | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Out of the page. | 4 | ···· |
| From such a frolic head 'twas shorn! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| ('Tis but five years since he was born.) | 8 | ········ |
| Not sunlight scampering over corn | 9 | ·/·/˘˘··· |
| Were merrier thing. | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| A child? A fragment of the morn, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A piece of Spring! | 4 | ···· |
| Surely an ampler, fuller day | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Than drapes our English skies with grey-- | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| A deeper light, a richer ray | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Than here we know-- | 4 | ···· |
| To this bright tress have given away | 9 | ·····/˘˘/ |
| Their living glow. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| For Willie dwells where gentian flowers | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Make mimic sky in mountain bowers; | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| And vineyards steeped in ardent hours | 10 | ·/˘·˘·/˘/˘ |
| Slope to the wave | 4 | ···· |
| Where storied Chillon's tragic towers | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Their bases lave; | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And over piny tracts of Vaud | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The rose of eve steals up the snow; | 8 | ········ |
| And on the waters far below | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Strange sails like wings | 4 | ···· |
| Half-bodilessly come and go, | 8 | ········ |
| Fantastic things; | 4 | ˘/˘· |
| And tender night falls like a sigh | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| On châlet low and château high; | 8 | ········ |
| And the far cataract's voice comes nigh, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Where no man hears; | 4 | ···· |
| And spectral peaks impale the sky | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| On silver spears. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Ah, Willie, whose dissevered tress | 9 | ·/˘····˘· |
| Lies in my hand!--may you possess | 8 | ······˘/ |
| At least one sovereign happiness, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Ev'n to your grave; | 4 | ···· |
| One boon than which I ask naught less, | 8 | ········ |
| Naught greater crave: | 4 | ·/˘· |
| May cloud and mountain, lake and vale, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Never to you be trite or stale | 8 | /˘······ |
| As unto souls whose wellsprings fail | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Or flow defiled, | 4 | ···· |
| Till Nature's happiest fairy-tale | 9 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘· |
| Charms not her child! | 4 | ···· |
| For when the spirit waxes numb, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Alien and strange these shows become, | 9 | /˘˘····˘/ |
| And stricken with life's tedium | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| The streams run dry, | 4 | ···· |
| The choric spheres themselves are dumb, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| And dead the sky,-- | 4 | ···· |
| Dead as to captives grown supine, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Chained to their task in sightless mine: | 9 | ·˘····/˘· |
| Above, the bland day smiles benign, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Birds carol free, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| In thunderous throes of life divine | 9 | ·/˘˘···˘/ |
| Leaps the glad sea; | 4 | ···· |
| But they--their day and night are one. | 8 | ········ |
| What is't to them, that rivulets run, | 9 | ········· |
| Or what concern of theirs the sun? | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| It seems as though | 4 | ···· |
| Their business with these things was done | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Ages ago: | 4 | /˘˘/ |
| Only, at times, each dulled heart feels | 9 | /˘····˘·· |
| That somewhere, sealed with hopeless seals, | 9 | ·/··˘·/˘· |
| The unmeaning heaven about him reels, | 10 | ·˘/˘/˘···· |
| And he lies hurled | 4 | ···· |
| Beyond the roar of all the wheels | 8 | ········ |
| Of all the world. | 4 | ···· |
| On what strange track one's fancies fare! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To eyeless night in sunless lair | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| 'Tis a far cry from Willie's hair; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And here it lies-- | 4 | ···· |
| Human, yet something which can ne'er | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Grow sad and wise: | 4 | ···· |
| Which, when the head where late it lay | 8 | ········ |
| In life's grey dusk itself is grey, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And when the curfew of life's day | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| By death is tolled, | 4 | ···· |
| Shall forfeit not the auroral ray | 9 | ·/˘··˘/˘· |
| And eastern gold. | 4 | ·/˘· |
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.