The Raven's Shadow
Seabird, elemental sprite,Moulded of the sun and spray--Raven, dreary flake of nightDrifting in the eye of day--What in common have ye two,Meeting 'twixt the blue and blue?
Thou to eastward carriestThe keen savour of the foam,--Thou dost bear unto the westFragrance from thy woody home,Where perchance a house is thineOdorous of the oozy pine.
Eastward thee thy proper cares,Things of mighty moment, call;Thee to westward thine affairsSummon, weighty matters all:I, where land and sea contest,Watch you eastward, watch you west,
Till, in snares of fancy caught,Mystically changed ye seem,And the bird becomes a thought,And the thought becomes a dream,And the dream, outspread on high,Lords it o'er the abject sky.
Surely I have known beforePhantoms of the shapes ye be--Haunters of another shore'Leaguered by another sea.There my wanderings night and mornReconcile me to the bourn.
There the bird of happy wingsWafts the ocean-news I crave;Rumours of an isle he bringsGemlike on the golden wave:But the baleful beak and plumeScatter immelodious gloom.
Though the flow'rs be faultless made,Perfectly to live and die--Though the bright clouds bloom and fadeFlow'rlike 'midst a meadowy sky--Where this raven roams forlornVeins of midnight flaw the morn.
He not less will croak and croakAs he ever caws and caws,Till the starry dance he broke,Till the sphery pæan pause,And the universal chimeFalter out of tune and time.
Coils the labyrinthine seaDuteous to the lunar will,But some discord stealthilyVexes the world-ditty still,And the bird that caws and cawsClasps creation with his claws.
Words in this poem 22
- sprite n.
- A spirit; a soul; a shade; also, an apparition. See Spright. [OE. sprit, F. esprit, fr. L. spiritus. See Spirit, and cf. Sprightly.]
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
- flake n.
- A paling; a hurdle. [prov. Eng.] [Cf. Icel. flaki, fleki, Dan. flage, D. vlaak.]
- savour v. t.
- To perceive by the smell or the taste; hence, to perceive; to note. B. Jonson.
- outspread v. t.
- To spread out; to expand; -- usually as a past part. or adj.
- abject a.
- Cast down; low-lying. [L. abjectus, p. p. of abjicere to throw away; ab + jacere to throw. See Jet a shooting forth.]
- 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.]
- bourn n.
- A stream or rivulet; a burn. [OE. burne, borne, AS. burna; akin to OS. brunno spring, G. born, brunnen, OHG. prunno, Goth. brunna, Icel. brunnr, and perh. to Gr. burn, v., because the source]
- 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.]
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- faultless a.
- Without fault; not defective or imperfect; free from blemish; free from incorrectness, vice, or offense; perfect; as, a faultless poem.
- meadowy a.
- Of or pertaining to meadows; resembling, or consisting of, meadow.
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- croak v. i.
- To make a low, hoarse noise in the throat, as a frog, a raven, or a crow; hence, to make any hoarse, dismal sound. [From the primitive of AS. cracettan to croak as a raven; akin to G. kr to croak, and to E. creak, crake.]
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- sphery a.
- Round; spherical; starlike.
- chime n.
- The harmonious sound of bells, or of musical instruments. [OE. chimbe, prop., cymbal, OF. cymbe, cymble, in a dialectic form, chymble, F. cymbale, L. cymbalum, fr. Gr. Cymbal.]
- falter v. t.
- To thrash in the chaff; also, to cleanse or sift, as barley.
- labyrinthine a.
- Pertaining to, or like, a labyrinth; labyrinthal.
- duteous a.
- Fulfilling duty; dutiful; having the sentiments due to a superior, or to one to whom respect or service is owed; obedient; as, a duteous son or daughter. [From Duty.]
- ditty n.
- A saying or utterance; especially, one that is short and frequently repeated; a theme. [OE. dite, OF. ditié, fr. L. dictatum, p. p. neut. of dictare to say often, dictate, compose. See Dictate, v. t.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Raven's Shadow 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 Raven's Shadow, in The Poems of William Watson (1892–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13179, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/watson-poems/the-raven-s-shadow.html, id L11269.
Form and metre
The Raven's Shadow is 54 lines in 9 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABABCC spriteA · sprayB · nightA · dayB · twoC · blueC
- 2 ABABCC carriestA · foamB · westA · homeB · thineC · pineC
- 3 ABABCC caresA · callB · affairsA · allB · contestC · westC
- 4 ABABCC caughtA · seemB · thoughtA · dreamB · highC · skyC
- 5 ABABCC beforeA · beB · shoreA · seaB · mornC · bournC
- 6 ABABCC wingsA · craveB · bringsA · waveB · plumeC · gloomC
- 7 ABABCC madeA · dieB · fadeA · skyB · forlornC · mornC
- 8 ABABCC croakA · cawsB · brokeA · pauseB · chimeC · timeC
- 9 ABABCC seaA · willB · stealthilyA · stillB · cawsC · clawsC
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Seabird, elemental sprite, | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Moulded of the sun and spray-- | 7 | /˘····· |
| Raven, dreary flake of night | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Drifting in the eye of day-- | 7 | /˘····· |
| What in common have ye two, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Meeting 'twixt the blue and blue? | 7 | /˘····· |
| Thou to eastward carriest | 7 | ··/˘/˘˘ |
| The keen savour of the foam,-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Thou dost bear unto the west | 7 | ······· |
| Fragrance from thy woody home, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Where perchance a house is thine | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Odorous of the oozy pine. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Eastward thee thy proper cares, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Things of mighty moment, call; | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Thee to westward thine affairs | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Summon, weighty matters all: | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| I, where land and sea contest, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Watch you eastward, watch you west, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Till, in snares of fancy caught, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Mystically changed ye seem, | 7 | ······· |
| And the bird becomes a thought, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| And the thought becomes a dream, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| And the dream, outspread on high, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Lords it o'er the abject sky. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Surely I have known before | 7 | /˘····· |
| Phantoms of the shapes ye be-- | 7 | /˘····· |
| Haunters of another shore | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| 'Leaguered by another sea. | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| There my wanderings night and morn | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Reconcile me to the bourn. | 7 | /˘····· |
| There the bird of happy wings | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Wafts the ocean-news I crave; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Rumours of an isle he brings | 7 | ·˘····· |
| Gemlike on the golden wave: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| But the baleful beak and plume | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Scatter immelodious gloom. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Though the flow'rs be faultless made, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Perfectly to live and die-- | 7 | /˘˘···· |
| Though the bright clouds bloom and fade | 7 | ······· |
| Flow'rlike 'midst a meadowy sky-- | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Where this raven roams forlorn | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Veins of midnight flaw the morn. | 7 | ··/···· |
| He not less will croak and croak | 7 | ······· |
| As he ever caws and caws, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Till the starry dance he broke, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Till the sphery pæan pause, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| And the universal chime | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Falter out of tune and time. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Coils the labyrinthine sea | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Duteous to the lunar will, | 8 | /˘˘··/˘· |
| But some discord stealthily | 7 | ··/˘/˘˘ |
| Vexes the world-ditty still, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And the bird that caws and caws | 7 | ······· |
| Clasps creation with his claws. | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
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.