"The Foresters"
Clear as of old the great voice rings to-day,While Sherwood's oak-leaves twine with Aldworth's bay:The voice of him the master and the sireOf one whole age and legion of the lyre,Who sang his morning-song when Coleridge stillUttered dark oracles from Highgate Hill,And with new-launchèd argosies of rhymeGilds and makes brave this sombreing tide of time.Far be the hour when lesser brows shall wearThe laurel glorious from that wintry hair--When he, the sovereign of our lyric day,In Charon's shallop must be rowed away,And hear, scarce heeding, 'mid the plash of oar,The ave atque vale from the shore!
To him nor tender nor heroic museDid her divine confederacy refuse:To all its moods the lyre of life he strung,And notes of death fell deathless from his tongue.Himself the Merlin of his magic strain,He bade old glories break in gloom again;And so exempted from oblivious doom,Through him these days shall fadeless break in bloom.
Words in this poem
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
- 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,]
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- 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.]
- deathless a.
- Not subject to death, destruction, or extinction; immortal; undying; imperishable; as, deathless beings; deathless fame.
- merlin n.
- A small European falcon (Falco lithofalco, or F. æsalon). [OE. merlion, F. émerillon ; cf. OHG. smirl, G. schmerl ; prob. fr. L. merula blackbird. Cf. Merle.]
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- oblivious a.
- Promoting oblivion; causing forgetfulness. [L.obliviosus: cf.F. oblivieux.]
- fadeless a.
- Not liable to fade; unfading.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
"The Foresters" 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, "The Foresters", in The Poems of William Watson (1892–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13179, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/watson-poems/the-foresters.html, id L11347.
Form and metre
"The Foresters" is 22 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 23% 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 AA--BBCCDDAAEE dayA · bayA · sire · lyre · stillB · hillB · rhymeC · timeC · wearD · hairD · dayA · awayA · oarE · shoreE
- 2 AABBCCDD museA · refuseA · strungB · tongueB · strainC · againC · doomD · bloomD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Clear as of old the great voice rings to-day, | 10 | ·········· |
| While Sherwood's oak-leaves twine with Aldworth's bay: | 10 | ·/········ |
| The voice of him the master and the sire | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Of one whole age and legion of the lyre, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Who sang his morning-song when Coleridge still | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Uttered dark oracles from Highgate Hill, | 10 | /˘·/˘˘···· |
| And with new-launchèd argosies of rhyme | 9 | ····/˘˘·· |
| Gilds and makes brave this sombreing tide of time. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Far be the hour when lesser brows shall wear | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| The laurel glorious from that wintry hair-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| When he, the sovereign of our lyric day, | 10 | ···/˘·//˘· |
| In Charon's shallop must be rowed away, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| And hear, scarce heeding, 'mid the plash of oar, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The ave atque vale from the shore! | 9 | ·/˘˘····· |
| To him nor tender nor heroic muse | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Did her divine confederacy refuse: | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| To all its moods the lyre of life he strung, | 10 | ·········· |
| And notes of death fell deathless from his tongue. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Himself the Merlin of his magic strain, | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| He bade old glories break in gloom again; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And so exempted from oblivious doom, | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Through him these days shall fadeless break in bloom. | 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.