Promenade
Come, we’ll walk down the roadtill the bacon will be frying.We might better be idle?A poem might come of it?Oh, be useful. Save annoyanceto Flossie and besides--the wind!It’s cold. It blows ourold pants out! It makes us shiver!See the heavy treesshifting their weight before it.Let us be trees, an old house,a hill with grass on it!The baby’s arms are blue.Come, move! Be quieted!
Splash the water up!(Splash it up, Sonny!) Laugh!Hit it there deep under the grass.
See it splash! Ah, mind,see it splash! It is alive!Throw pieces of broken leavesinto it. They’ll pass through.No! Yes--just!
Away now for the cows! But--It’s cold!It’s getting dark.It’s going to rain.No further!
Two fern plumes. Strip themto the mid-rib along one side.Bind the tips with a grass stem.Bend and intertwist the stalksat the back. So!Ah! now we are crowned!Now we are a poet!
Quickly!A bunch of little flowersfor Flossie--the little onesonly:a red clover, oneblue heal-all, a sprig ofbone-set, one primrose,a head of Indian tobacco, thismagenta speck and thislittle lavender!Home now, my mind!--Sonny’s arms are icy, I tell you--and have breakfast!
Words in this poem
- intertwist v. t.
- To twist together one with another; to intertwine.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Promenade 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, Promenade, in Al Que Quiere! (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51997, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/williams-al-que-quiere/promenade.html, id L01103.
Form and metre
Promenade is 47 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.9 syllables. 13 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 28% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 ---A-----A-A-- road · frying · idle · itA · annoyance · wind · our · shiver · trees · itA · house · itA · blue · quieted
- 5 A-A---- themA · side · stemA · stalks · so · crowned · poet
- 6 -------AA---- quickly · flowers · ones · only · one · of · primrose · thisA · thisA · lavender · mind · you · breakfast
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Come, we’ll walk down the road | 6 | ······ |
| till the bacon will be frying. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| We might better be idle? | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| A poem might come of it? | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Oh, be useful. Save annoyance | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| to Flossie and besides--the wind! | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| It’s cold. It blows our | 6 | ····/˘ |
| old pants out! It makes us shiver! | 8 | ······/˘ |
| See the heavy trees | 5 | ··/˘· |
| shifting their weight before it. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Let us be trees, an old house, | 7 | ······· |
| a hill with grass on it! | 6 | ······ |
| The baby’s arms are blue. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Come, move! Be quieted! | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Splash the water up! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| (Splash it up, Sonny!) Laugh! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Hit it there deep under the grass. | 8 | ········ |
| See it splash! Ah, mind, | 5 | ····· |
| see it splash! It is alive! | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Throw pieces of broken leaves | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| into it. They’ll pass through. | 6 | ······ |
| No! Yes--just! | 3 | ··· |
| Away now for the cows! But-- | 7 | ˘/····· |
| It’s cold! | 2 | ·· |
| It’s getting dark. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| It’s going to rain. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| No further! | 3 | ·/˘ |
| Two fern plumes. Strip them | 5 | ····· |
| to the mid-rib along one side. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Bind the tips with a grass stem. | 7 | ······· |
| Bend and intertwist the stalks | 7 | ······· |
| at the back. So! | 4 | ···· |
| Ah! now we are crowned! | 5 | ····· |
| Now we are a poet! | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Quickly! | 2 | /˘ |
| A bunch of little flowers | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| for Flossie--the little ones | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| only: | 2 | /˘ |
| a red clover, one | 5 | ··/˘· |
| blue heal-all, a sprig of | 6 | ······ |
| bone-set, one primrose, | 5 | ···/· |
| a head of Indian tobacco, this | 10 | ···/˘˘˘/·· |
| magenta speck and this | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| little lavender! | 5 | /˘/˘˘ |
| Home now, my mind!-- | 4 | ···· |
| Sonny’s arms are icy, I tell you-- | 9 | /˘··/˘··· |
| and have breakfast! | 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.