Pastoral
“None has dipped his handin the black waters of the skynor picked the yellow liliesthat sway on their clear stemsand no tree has waitedlong enough nor still enoughto touch fingers with the moon.”
In a tissue-thin monotone of blue-grey budscrowded erect with desire againstthe sky--tense blue-grey twigsslenderly anchoring them down, drawingthem in--two blue-grey birds chasinga third struggle in circles, angles,swift convergings to a point that burstsinstantly!
Vibrant bowing limbspull downward, sucking in the skythat bulges from behind, plastering itselfagainst them in packed rifts, rock blueand dirty orange!But--
(Hold hard, rigid jointed trees!)the blinding and red-edged sun-blur--creeping energy, concentratedcounterforce--welds sky, buds, trees,rivets them in one puckering hold!Sticks through! Pulls the wholecounter-pulling mass upward, to the right,locks even the opaque, not yet definedground in a terrific drag that isloosening the very tap-roots!
On a tissue-thin monotone of blue-grey budstwo blue-grey birds, chasing a third,at full cry! Now they areflung outward and up--disappearing suddenly!
Words in this poem
- monotone n.
- A single unvaried tone or sound. [See Monotonous, Monotony.]
- vibrant a.
- Vibrating; tremulous; resonant; as, vibrant drums. [L. vibrans, p. pr.: cf. F. vibrant. See Vibrate.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Pastoral 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, Pastoral, in Al Que Quiere! (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51997, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/williams-al-que-quiere/pastoral-3.html, id L01128.
Form and metre
Pastoral is 37 lines in 5 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 60% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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.
- 4 A--A------ treesA · blur · concentrated · treesA · hold · whole · right · defined · is · roots
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| “None has dipped his hand | 5 | ····· |
| in the black waters of the sky | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| nor picked the yellow lilies | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| that sway on their clear stems | 6 | ······ |
| and no tree has waited | 6 | ····/˘ |
| long enough nor still enough | 7 | ·˘/··˘/ |
| to touch fingers with the moon.” | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| In a tissue-thin monotone of blue-grey buds | 12 | ··/··/˘····· |
| crowded erect with desire against | 10 | /˘˘/·˘/˘·· |
| the sky-- | 2 | ·· |
| tense blue-grey twigs | 4 | ···· |
| slenderly anchoring them down, drawing | 10 | ···/˘˘··/˘ |
| them in-- | 2 | ·· |
| two blue-grey birds chasing | 6 | ····/˘ |
| a third struggle in circles, angles, | 9 | ··/˘·/˘/˘ |
| swift convergings to a point that bursts | 9 | ·˘/˘····· |
| instantly! | 3 | /˘˘ |
| Vibrant bowing limbs | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| pull downward, sucking in the sky | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| that bulges from behind, plastering itself | 11 | ·/˘···/˘˘˘/ |
| against them in packed rifts, rock blue | 8 | ········ |
| and dirty orange! | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| But-- | 1 | · |
| (Hold hard, rigid jointed trees!) | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| the blinding and red-edged sun-blur-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| creeping energy, concentrated | 9 | /˘/˘˘/˘·˘ |
| counterforce--welds sky, buds, trees, | 7 | /˘····· |
| rivets them in one puckering hold! | 9 | /˘···/˘˘· |
| Sticks through! Pulls the whole | 5 | ····· |
| counter-pulling mass upward, to the right, | 10 | /˘/˘·/˘··· |
| locks even the opaque, not yet defined | 10 | ·/˘·˘/··˘/ |
| ground in a terrific drag that is | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| loosening the very tap-roots! | 8 | /˘˘·/˘·· |
| On a tissue-thin monotone of blue-grey buds | 12 | ··/··/˘····· |
| two blue-grey birds, chasing a third, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| at full cry! Now they are | 6 | ······ |
| flung outward and up--disappearing suddenly! | 12 | ·/˘···˘/˘/˘˘ |
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.