Composed Near Calais, on the Road Leading to Ardres, August 7, 1802
Jones! as from Calais southward you and IWent pacing side by side, this public WayStreamed with the pomp of a too-credulous day,When faith was pledged to new-born Liberty:A homeless sound of joy was in the sky:From hour to hour the antiquated Earth,Beat like the heart of Man: songs, garlands, mirth,Banners, and happy faces, far and nigh!And now, sole register that these things were,Two solitary greetings have I heard,"Good morrow, Citizen!" a hollow word,As if a dead man spake it! Yet despairTouches me not, though pensive as a birdWhose vernal coverts winter hath laid bare.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- homeless a.
- Destitute of a home. [AS.hamleas.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Composed Near Calais, on the Road Leading to Ardres, August 7, 1802 is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 2 (of 8), Project Gutenberg ebook #12145; 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 Wordsworth, Composed Near Calais, on the Road Leading to Ardres, August 7, 1802, in The Brothers, and Other Poems (1798–1807), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12145, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wordsworth-vol2/composed-near-calais-on-the-road-leading-to-ardres-august-7-.html, id L17357.
Form and metre
Composed Near Calais, on the Road Leading to Ardres, August 7, 1802 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.7 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABB-ACCA-DDEDE iA · wayB · dayB · liberty · skyA · earthC · mirthC · nighA · were · heardD · wordD · despairE · birdD · bareE
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Jones! as from Calais southward you and I | 10 | ···˘//˘··· |
| Went pacing side by side, this public Way | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Streamed with the pomp of a too-credulous day, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| When faith was pledged to new-born Liberty: | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| A homeless sound of joy was in the sky: | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| From hour to hour the antiquated Earth, | 10 | ·/·/·/˘·˘· |
| Beat like the heart of Man: songs, garlands, mirth, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Banners, and happy faces, far and nigh! | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| And now, sole register that these things were, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Two solitary greetings have I heard, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| "Good morrow, Citizen!" a hollow word, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| As if a dead man spake it! Yet despair | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Touches me not, though pensive as a bird | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Whose vernal coverts winter hath laid bare. | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
On this poem
Notes from the edition 6
William Knight's notes to The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Volume 2 (1896; Project Gutenberg #12145): Wordsworth's own Isabella Fenwick notes and Knight's headnotes on composition and publication, plus his lettered footnotes (restarting at A for every poem).
- Line 1 1837. ... when ... 1807. ... while ... 1820.
- Line 3 14th July 1790.--W. W. 1820.
- Line 4 1837. Travell'd on foot together; then this Way, Which I am pacing now, was like the May With festivals of new-born Liberty: 1807. Where I am walking now ... MS. Urged our accordant steps, this public Way Streamed with the pomp of a too-credulous day, When faith was pledged to new-born Liberty: 1820.
- Line 6 1845. The antiquated Earth, as one might say, 1807. The antiquated Earth, hopeful and gay, 1837.
- Line 7 1845. ... garlands, play, 1807.
- Line 14 1827. I feel not: happy am I as a Bird: Fair seasons yet will come, and hopes as fair. 1807. I feel not: jocund as a warbling Bird; 1820.
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.