Abroad
Never, even in a dream,Have I winged so high nor so wellAs with her, she leading me by the hand,That first day on the Jersey mountains!And never shall I forgetThe trembling interest with which I heardHer voice in a low thunder:“You are safe here. Look child, look open-mouth!The patch of road between the steep bramble banks;The tree in the wind, the white house there, the sky!Speak to men of these, concerning me!For never while you permit them to ignore meIn these shall the full of my freed voiceCome grappling the ear with intent!Never while the air’s clear coolnessIs seized to be a coat for pettiness;Never while richness of greeneryStands a shield for prurient minds;Never, permitting these things unchallengedShall my voice of leaves and varicolored bark come free through!”At which, knowing her solitude,I shouted over the country below me:“Waken! my people, to the boughs greenWith ripening fruit within you!Waken to the myriad cinquefoilIn the waving grass of your minds!Waken to the silent phoebe nestUnder the eaves of your spirit!”
But she, stooping nearer the shifting hillsSpoke again. “Look there! See them!There in the oat field with the horses,See them there! bowed by their passionsCrushed down, that had been raised as a roof beam!The weight of the sky is upon themUnder which all roof beams crumble.There is none but the single roof beam:There is no love bears against the great firefly!At this I looked up at the sunThen shouted again with all the might I had.But my voice was a seed in the wind.Then she, the old one, laughingSeized me and whirling about bore backTo the city, upward, still laughingUntil the great towers stood above the marshlandWheeling beneath: the little creeks, the mallowsThat I picked as a boy, the HackensackSo quiet that seemed so broad formerly:The crawling trains, the cedar swamp on the one side--All so old, so familiar--so new nowTo my marvelling eyes as we passedInvisible.
Words in this poem 15
- 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,]
- bramble n.
- Any plant of the genus Rubus, including the raspberry and blackberry. Hence: Any rough, prickly shrub. [OE. brembil, AS.brbramal), fr. the same root as E. broom, As. br. See Broom.]
- ignore v. t.
- To be ignorant of or not acquainted with. [L. ignorare; pref. in- not + the root of gnarus knowing, noscere to become acquainted with. See Know, and cf. Narrate.]
- pettiness n.
- The quality or state of being petty or paltry; littleness; meanness.
- greenery n.
- Green plants; verdure.
- prurient a.
- Uneasy with desire; itching; especially, having a lascivious curiosity or propensity; lustful. [L. pruries, -entis, p. pr. of prurire to itch. Cf. Freeze.]
- waken v. i.
- To wake; to cease to sleep; to be awakened. [OE. waknen, AS. wæcnan; akin to Goth. gawaknan. See Wake, v. i.]
- myriad n.
- The number of ten thousand; ten thousand persons or things. [Gr. myriade.]
- cinquefoil n.
- The name of several different species of the genus Potentilla; -- also called five-finger, because of the resemblance of its leaves to the fingers of the hand. [Cinque five + foil, F. feuille leaf. See Foil.]
- phoebe n.
- The pewee, or pewit.
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- firefly n.
- Any luminous winged insect, esp. luminous beetles of the family Lampyridæ.
- wheeling n.
- The act of conveying anything, or traveling, on wheels, or in a wheeled vehicle.
- creeks n.
- A tribe or confederacy of North American Indians, including the Muskogees, Seminoles, Uchees, and other subordinate tribes. They formerly inhabited Georgia, Florida, and Alabama.
- mallows n.
- A genus of plants (Malva) having mucilaginous qualities. See Malvaceous. [OE. malwe, AS. mealwe, fr. L. malva, akin to Gr. mala`chh; cf. mala`ssein to soften, malako`s soft. Named either from its softening or relaxing properties, or f]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Abroad is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Book of Poems, Al Que Quiere!, Project Gutenberg ebook #51997; 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 Carlos Williams, Abroad, in Al Que Quiere! (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51997, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/williams-al-que-quiere/abroad.html, id L01142.
Form and metre
Abroad is 51 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 71%). 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.2 syllables. 16 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 45% 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 ---------AAAB-BB-C-D-A-D-C-- dream · well · hand · mountains · forget · heard · thunder · mouth · banks · skyA · meA · meA · voiceB · intent · coolnessB · pettinessB · greenery · mindsC · unchallenged · throughD · solitude · meA · green · youD · cinquefoil · mindsC · nest · spirit
- 2 -A--BA-B----CDC--D----- hills · themA · horses · passions · beamB · themA · crumble · beamB · firefly · sun · had · wind · laughingC · backD · laughingC · marshland · mallows · hackensackD · formerly · side · now · passed · invisible
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Never, even in a dream, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Have I winged so high nor so well | 8 | ········ |
| As with her, she leading me by the hand, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| That first day on the Jersey mountains! | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| And never shall I forget | 7 | ·/˘··˘/ |
| The trembling interest with which I heard | 10 | ·/˘˘/˘···· |
| Her voice in a low thunder: | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| “You are safe here. Look child, look open-mouth! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The patch of road between the steep bramble banks; | 11 | ········/˘· |
| The tree in the wind, the white house there, the sky! | 11 | ··········· |
| Speak to men of these, concerning me! | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| For never while you permit them to ignore me | 12 | ·/˘··˘/··˘/· |
| In these shall the full of my freed voice | 9 | ········· |
| Come grappling the ear with intent! | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Never while the air’s clear coolness | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Is seized to be a coat for pettiness; | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Never while richness of greenery | 9 | /˘·/˘·/˘˘ |
| Stands a shield for prurient minds; | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Never, permitting these things unchallenged | 10 | /˘˘/˘··˘/˘ |
| Shall my voice of leaves and varicolored bark come free through!” | 14 | ·············· |
| At which, knowing her solitude, | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| I shouted over the country below me: | 11 | ·/˘···/˘··· |
| “Waken! my people, to the boughs green | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| With ripening fruit within you! | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Waken to the myriad cinquefoil | 9 | /˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| In the waving grass of your minds! | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Waken to the silent phoebe nest | 9 | /˘··/˘/˘· |
| Under the eaves of your spirit!” | 8 | ······/˘ |
| But she, stooping nearer the shifting hills | 10 | ··/˘/˘·/˘· |
| Spoke again. “Look there! See them! | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| There in the oat field with the horses, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| See them there! bowed by their passions | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Crushed down, that had been raised as a roof beam! | 10 | ·········· |
| The weight of the sky is upon them | 9 | ········· |
| Under which all roof beams crumble. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| There is none but the single roof beam: | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| There is no love bears against the great firefly! | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| At this I looked up at the sun | 8 | ········ |
| Then shouted again with all the might I had. | 11 | ·/˘˘/······ |
| But my voice was a seed in the wind. | 9 | ········· |
| Then she, the old one, laughing | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Seized me and whirling about bore back | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| To the city, upward, still laughing | 9 | ··/˘/˘·/˘ |
| Until the great towers stood above the marshland | 12 | ····/˘····/· |
| Wheeling beneath: the little creeks, the mallows | 11 | /˘···/˘··/˘ |
| That I picked as a boy, the Hackensack | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| So quiet that seemed so broad formerly: | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| The crawling trains, the cedar swamp on the one side-- | 12 | ·/˘··/˘····· |
| All so old, so familiar--so new now | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| To my marvelling eyes as we passed | 9 | ··˘/˘···· |
| Invisible. | 4 | ˘/˘˘ |
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.