A Hunting-Song
HUNTERS, where does Hope nest?Not in the half-oped breast,Nor the young rose,Nor April sunrise--thoseWith a quick wing she brushes,The wide world through,Greets with the throat of thrushes,Fades from as fast as dew.
But, would you spy her sleeping,Cradled warm,Look in the breast of weeping,The tree stript by storm;But, would you bind her fast,Yours at last,Bed-mate and lover,Gain the last headland bareThat the cold tides cover,There may you capture her, there,Where the sea gives to the groundOnly the drift of the drowned.Yet, if she slips you, once found,Push to her uttermost lairIn the low house of despair.There will she watch by your head,Sing to you till you be dead,Then, with your child in her breast,In another heart build a new nest.
Words in this poem
- uttermost a.
- Extreme; utmost; being; in the farthest, greatest, or highest degree; as, the uttermost extent or end. [From Utter, a.; cf. Utmost, and Outermost.]
- 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Hunting-Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from Artemis to Actaeon, and Other Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #4549; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edith Wharton, A Hunting-Song, in Artemis to Actaeon, and Other Verse (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4549, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wharton-artemis/a-hunting-song.html, id L22247.
Form and metre
A Hunting-Song is 27 lines in 2 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
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 AABBCDCD nestA · breastA · roseB · thoseB · brushesC · throughD · thrushesC · dewD
- 2 ABABCCDEDEFFFEEGGHH sleepingA · warmB · weepingA · stormB · fastC · lastC · loverD · bareE · coverD · thereE · groundF · drownedF · foundF · lairE · despairE · headG · deadG · breastH · nestH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| HUNTERS, where does Hope nest? | 6 | /˘···· |
| Not in the half-oped breast, | 6 | ······ |
| Nor the young rose, | 4 | ···· |
| Nor April sunrise--those | 6 | ·/˘/·· |
| With a quick wing she brushes, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The wide world through, | 4 | ···· |
| Greets with the throat of thrushes, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Fades from as fast as dew. | 6 | ······ |
| But, would you spy her sleeping, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Cradled warm, | 3 | /˘· |
| Look in the breast of weeping, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The tree stript by storm; | 5 | ····· |
| But, would you bind her fast, | 6 | ······ |
| Yours at last, | 3 | ··· |
| Bed-mate and lover, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Gain the last headland bare | 6 | ···/˘· |
| That the cold tides cover, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| There may you capture her, there, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Where the sea gives to the ground | 7 | ······· |
| Only the drift of the drowned. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Yet, if she slips you, once found, | 7 | ······· |
| Push to her uttermost lair | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| In the low house of despair. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| There will she watch by your head, | 7 | ······· |
| Sing to you till you be dead, | 7 | ······· |
| Then, with your child in her breast, | 7 | ······· |
| In another heart build a new nest. | 9 | ·˘/˘····· |
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.