Lines (With a Volume of the Author's Poems Sent to M.R.C.)
Go, Verse, nor let the grass of tarrying growBeneath thy feet iambic. Southward goO'er Thamesis his stream, nor halt untilThou reach the summit of a suburb hillTo lettered fame not unfamiliar: thereCrave rest and shelter of a scholiast fair,Who dwelleth in a world of old romance,Magic emprise and faery chevisaunce.Tell her, that he who made thee, years ago,By northern stream and mountain, and where blowGreat breaths from the sea-sunset, at this dayOne half thy fabric fain would rase away;But she must take thee faults and all, my Verse,Forgive thy better and forget thy worse.Thee, doubtless, she shall place, not scorned, amongMore famous songs by happier minstrels sung;--In Shakespeare's shadow thou shalt find a home,Shalt house with melodists of Greece and Rome,Or awed by Dante's wintry presence be,Or won by Goethe's regal suavity,Or with those masters hardly less adoredRepose, of Rydal and of Farringford;And--like a mortal rapt from men's abodesInto some skyey fastness of the gods--Divinely neighboured, thou in such a shrineMayst for a moment dream thyself divine.
Words in this poem
- lettered a.
- Literate; educated; versed in literature.
- 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.]
- scholiast n.
- A maker of scholia; a commentator or annotator. [Gr. scoliate. See Scholium.]
- emprise n.
- An enterprise; endeavor; adventure. [OF. emprise, fr. emprendre to undertake; pref. em- (L. in) + F. prendre to take, L. prehendere, prendere; prae before + a verb akin to E. get. See Get, and cf. ]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- rase v. t.
- To rub along the surface of; to graze. [F. raser, LL. rasare to scrape often, v. freq. fr. L. radere, rasum, to scrape, shave; cf. Skr. rad to scratch, gnaw, L. rodere to gnaw. Cf. Raze, Razee, Razor,]
- doubtless a.
- Free from fear or suspicion.
- 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,]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
- suavity n.
- Sweetness to the taste. Sir T. Browne. [L. suavitas: cf. F. suavité.]
- rapt n.
- An ecstasy; a trance. Bp. Morton. [From F. rapt abduction, rape, L. raptus, fr. rapere to seize and carry off, to transport; or fr. E. rapt, a. See Rapt, a., and Rapid.]
- skyey a.
- Like the sky; ethereal; being in the sky.
- fastness n.
- The state of being fast and firm; firmness; fixedness; security; faithfulness. [AS. fæstnes, fr. fæst fast. See Fast, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lines (With a Volume of the Author's Poems Sent to M.R.C.) 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, Lines (With a Volume of the Author's Poems Sent to M.R.C.), in The Poems of William Watson (1892–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13179, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/watson-poems/lines-with-a-volume-of-the-author-s-poems-sent-to-m-r-c.html, id L11268.
Form and metre
Lines (With a Volume of the Author's Poems Sent to M.R.C.) is 26 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 77% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCC--AADDEEFFGG--HH--II growA · goA · untilB · hillB · thereC · fairC · romance · chevisaunce · agoA · blowA · dayD · awayD · verseE · worseE · amongF · sungF · homeG · romeG · be · suavity · adoredH · farringfordH · abodes · gods · shrineI · divineI
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Go, Verse, nor let the grass of tarrying grow | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Beneath thy feet iambic. Southward go | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| O'er Thamesis his stream, nor halt until | 10 | ·········· |
| Thou reach the summit of a suburb hill | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| To lettered fame not unfamiliar: there | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Crave rest and shelter of a scholiast fair, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘˘· |
| Who dwelleth in a world of old romance, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Magic emprise and faery chevisaunce. | 10 | /˘˘/······ |
| Tell her, that he who made thee, years ago, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| By northern stream and mountain, and where blow | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Great breaths from the sea-sunset, at this day | 10 | ·····/···· |
| One half thy fabric fain would rase away; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| But she must take thee faults and all, my Verse, | 10 | ·········· |
| Forgive thy better and forget thy worse. | 10 | ˘/·/˘·˘/·· |
| Thee, doubtless, she shall place, not scorned, among | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| More famous songs by happier minstrels sung;-- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| In Shakespeare's shadow thou shalt find a home, | 10 | ·/·/······ |
| Shalt house with melodists of Greece and Rome, | 10 | ·········· |
| Or awed by Dante's wintry presence be, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Or won by Goethe's regal suavity, | 9 | ····/˘/˘˘ |
| Or with those masters hardly less adored | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Repose, of Rydal and of Farringford; | 10 | ˘/········ |
| And--like a mortal rapt from men's abodes | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Into some skyey fastness of the gods-- | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Divinely neighboured, thou in such a shrine | 10 | ˘/˘/˘····· |
| Mayst for a moment dream thyself divine. | 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.