Blueflags
I stopped the carto let the children downwhere the streets endin the sunat the marsh edgeand the reeds beginand there are small housesfacing the reedsand the blue mistin the distancewith grapevine trelliseswith grape clusterssmall as strawberrieson the vinesand ditchesrunning springwaterthat continue the gutterswith willows over them.The reeds beginlike water at a shoretheir pointed petals wavingdark green and light.But blueflags are blossomingin the reedswhich the children pluckchattering in the reedshigh over their headswhich they partwith bare arms to appearwith fists of flowerstill in the airthere comes the smellof calamusfrom wet, gummy stalks.
Words in this poem
- chattering n.
- The act or habit of talking idly or rapidly, or of making inarticulate sounds; the sounds so made; noise made by the collision of the teeth; chatter.
- calamus n.
- The indian cane, a plant of the Palm family. It furnishes the common rattan. See Rattan, and Dragon's blood. [L., a reed. See Halm.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Blueflags is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sour Grapes: A Book of Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #35667; 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, Blueflags, in Sour Grapes (1921), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #35667, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/williams-sour-grapes/blueflags.html, id L01187.
Form and metre
Blueflags is 34 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 4.7 syllables. 11 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 91% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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--- car · down · end · sun · edge · begin · houses · reeds · mist · distance · trellises · clusters · strawberries · vines · ditches · springwater · gutters · them · begin · shore · waving · light · blossoming · reeds · pluck · reeds · heads · part · appearA · flowers · airA · smell · calamus · stalks
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I stopped the car | 4 | ···· |
| to let the children down | 6 | ···/˘· |
| where the streets end | 4 | ···· |
| in the sun | 3 | ··· |
| at the marsh edge | 4 | ···· |
| and the reeds begin | 5 | ···˘/ |
| and there are small houses | 6 | ····/˘ |
| facing the reeds | 4 | /˘·· |
| and the blue mist | 4 | ···· |
| in the distance | 4 | ··/˘ |
| with grapevine trellises | 6 | ·/·/˘˘ |
| with grape clusters | 4 | ··/˘ |
| small as strawberries | 5 | ··/·˘ |
| on the vines | 3 | ··· |
| and ditches | 3 | ·/˘ |
| running springwater | 5 | /˘··· |
| that continue the gutters | 7 | ·˘/˘·/˘ |
| with willows over them. | 6 | ·/···· |
| The reeds begin | 4 | ··˘/ |
| like water at a shore | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| their pointed petals waving | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| dark green and light. | 4 | ···· |
| But blueflags are blossoming | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| in the reeds | 3 | ··· |
| which the children pluck | 5 | ··/˘· |
| chattering in the reeds | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| high over their heads | 5 | ····· |
| which they part | 3 | ··· |
| with bare arms to appear | 6 | ····˘/ |
| with fists of flowers | 5 | ···/˘ |
| till in the air | 4 | ···· |
| there comes the smell | 4 | ···· |
| of calamus | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| from wet, gummy stalks. | 5 | ··/˘· |
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.