Wordsworth's Grave I
The old rude church, with bare, bald tower, is here;Beneath its shadow high-born Rotha flows;Rotha, remembering well who slumbers near,And with cool murmur lulling his repose
Rotha, remembering well who slumbers near.His hills, his lakes, his streams are with him yet.Surely the heart that read her own heart clearNature forgets not soon: 'tis we forget.
We that with vagrant soul his fixityHave slighted; faithless, done his deep faith wrong;Left him for poorer loves, and bowed the kneeTo misbegotten strange new gods of song.
Yet, led by hollow ghost or beckoning elfFar from her homestead to the desert bourn,The vagrant soul returning to herselfWearily wise, must needs to him return.
To him and to the powers that with him dwell:--Inflowings that divulged not whence they came;And that secluded spirit unknowable,The mystery we make darker with a name;
The Somewhat which we name but cannot know,Ev'n as we name a star and only seeHis quenchless flashings forth, which ever showAnd ever hide him, and which are not he.
Words in this poem
- fixity n.
- Fixedness; as, fixity of tenure; also, that which is fixed. [Cf. F. fixité.]
- misbegotten p. a.
- Unlawfully or irregularly begotten; of bad origin; pernicious.
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- 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]
- wearily adv.
- In a weary manner.
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- quenchless a.
- Incapable of being quenched; inextinguishable; as, quenchless fire or fury.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Wordsworth's Grave I 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, Wordsworth's Grave I, in The Poems of William Watson (1892–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13179, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/watson-poems/wordsworth-s-grave-i.html, id L11322.
Form and metre
Wordsworth's Grave I is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. 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 10.0 syllables. 2 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 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 ABAB hereA · flowsB · nearA · reposeB
- 2 ABAB nearA · yetB · clearA · forgetB
- 3 ABAB fixityA · wrongB · kneeA · songB
- 4 ABAB elfA · bournB · herselfA · returnB
- 5 ABAB dwellA · cameB · unknowableA · nameB
- 6 ABAB knowA · seeB · showA · heB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The old rude church, with bare, bald tower, is here; | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Beneath its shadow high-born Rotha flows; | 10 | ···/······ |
| Rotha, remembering well who slumbers near, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| And with cool murmur lulling his repose | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Rotha, remembering well who slumbers near. | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| His hills, his lakes, his streams are with him yet. | 10 | ·········· |
| Surely the heart that read her own heart clear | 10 | /˘········ |
| Nature forgets not soon: 'tis we forget. | 10 | /˘˘/····˘/ |
| We that with vagrant soul his fixity | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Have slighted; faithless, done his deep faith wrong; | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Left him for poorer loves, and bowed the knee | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| To misbegotten strange new gods of song. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Yet, led by hollow ghost or beckoning elf | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Far from her homestead to the desert bourn, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| The vagrant soul returning to herself | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| Wearily wise, must needs to him return. | 10 | /˘˘·····˘/ |
| To him and to the powers that with him dwell:-- | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Inflowings that divulged not whence they came; | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| And that secluded spirit unknowable, | 11 | ··˘/˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
| The mystery we make darker with a name; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| The Somewhat which we name but cannot know, | 10 | ·//····/˘· |
| Ev'n as we name a star and only see | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| His quenchless flashings forth, which ever show | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And ever hide him, and which are not he. | 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.