The Beautiful Land of Nod
Come, cuddle your head on my shoulder, dear,Your head like the golden-rod,And we will go sailing away from hereTo the beautiful Land of Nod.Away from life's hurry and flurry and worry,Away from earth's shadows and gloom,To a world of fair weather we'll float off together,Where roses are always in bloom.
Just shut your eyes and fold your hands,Your hands like the leaves of a rose,And we will go sailing to those fair landsThat never an atlas shows.On the North and the West they are bounded by rest,On the South and the East, by dreams;'Tis the country ideal, where nothing is real,But everything only seems.
Just drop down the curtains of your dear eyesThose eyes like a bright bluebell,And we will sail out under starlit skies,To the land where the fairies dwell.
Down the river of sleep our barque shall sweep,Till it reaches that mystical IsleWhich no man hath seen, but where all have been,And there we will pause awhile.I will croon you a song as we float alongTo that shore that is blessed of God,Then, ho! for that fair land, we're off for that rare land,That beautiful Land of Nod.
Words in this poem
- cuddle v. i.
- To She cuddles low beneath the brake; Nor would she stay, nor dares she fly. Prior. [Prob. for couthle, fr. couth known; cf. OE. kuppen to cuddle, or cu to make friends with. SeeCouth, Uncouth, Can.]
- flurry n.
- A sudden and brief blast or gust; a light, temporary breeze; as, a flurry of wind. [Prov. E. flur to ruffle.]
- starlit a.
- Lighted by the stars; starlight.
- 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]
- barque n.
- Formerly, any small sailing vessel, as a pinnace, fishing smack, etc.; also, a rowing boat; a barge. Now applied poetically to a sailing vessel or boat of any kind. [F. barque, fr. Sp. or It. barca, fr. LL. barca for barica. See Barge.]
- 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,]
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- croon v. i.
- To make a continuous hollow moan, as cattle do when in pain.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Beautiful Land of Nod is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Passion, Project Gutenberg ebook #16776; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ella Wheeler Wilcox, The Beautiful Land of Nod, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/the-beautiful-land-of-nod.html, id L22206.
Form and metre
The Beautiful Land of Nod is 28 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%).
See other poems in anapaestic trimeter.
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-C-C dearA · rodB · hereA · nodB · worry · gloomC · together · bloomC
- 2 ABAB-C-C handsA · roseB · landsA · showsB · rest · dreamsC · real · seemsC
- 3 ABAB eyesA · bluebellB · skiesA · dwellB
- 4 -A-A-B-B sweep · isleA · been · awhileA · along · godB · land · nodB
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 anapaestic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Come, cuddle your head on my shoulder, dear, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Your head like the golden-rod, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And we will go sailing away from here | 10 | ····/˘˘/·· |
| To the beautiful Land of Nod. | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Away from life's hurry and flurry and worry, | 12 | ˘/··/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Away from earth's shadows and gloom, | 8 | ˘/··/··· |
| To a world of fair weather we'll float off together, | 13 | ·····/˘···˘/˘ |
| Where roses are always in bloom. | 8 | ·/˘·/··· |
| Just shut your eyes and fold your hands, | 8 | ········ |
| Your hands like the leaves of a rose, | 8 | ········ |
| And we will go sailing to those fair lands | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| That never an atlas shows. | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| On the North and the West they are bounded by rest, | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| On the South and the East, by dreams; | 8 | ········ |
| 'Tis the country ideal, where nothing is real, | 11 | ··/˘˘/·/˘·· |
| But everything only seems. | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Just drop down the curtains of your dear eyes | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Those eyes like a bright bluebell, | 7 | ·····/· |
| And we will sail out under starlit skies, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To the land where the fairies dwell. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Down the river of sleep our barque shall sweep, | 10 | ··/˘··/··· |
| Till it reaches that mystical Isle | 9 | ··/˘·/˘˘· |
| Which no man hath seen, but where all have been, | 10 | ·········· |
| And there we will pause awhile. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| I will croon you a song as we float along | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| To that shore that is blessed of God, | 9 | ······˘·· |
| Then, ho! for that fair land, we're off for that rare land, | 12 | ············ |
| That beautiful Land of Nod. | 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.