Atavism
I always was afraid of Somes's Pond:Not the little pond, by which the willow stands,Where laughing boys catch alewives in their handsIn brown, bright shallows; but the one beyond.There, when the frost makes all the birches burnYellow as cow-lilies, and the pale sky shinesLike a polished shell between black spruce and pines,Some strange thing tracks us, turning where we turn.
You'll say I dream it, being the true daughterOf those who in old times endured this dread.Look! Where the lily-stems are showing redA silent paddle moves below the water,A sliding shape has stirred them like a breath;Tall plumes surmount a painted mask of death.
About this text
Atavism is in the public domain. This text is taken from Nets to Catch the Wind, Project Gutenberg ebook #6682; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Elinor Wylie, Atavism, in Nets to Catch the Wind (1921), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6682, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wylie-nets/atavism.html, id L12759.
Form and metre
Atavism is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% 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 ABBACDDC pondA · standsB · handsB · beyondA · burnC · shinesD · pinesD · turnC
- 2 ABBACC daughterA · dreadB · redB · waterA · breathC · deathC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I always was afraid of Somes's Pond: | 10 | ·/··˘/·/˘· |
| Not the little pond, by which the willow stands, | 11 | ··/˘····/·· |
| Where laughing boys catch alewives in their hands | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| In brown, bright shallows; but the one beyond. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| There, when the frost makes all the birches burn | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Yellow as cow-lilies, and the pale sky shines | 11 | /˘··/˘····· |
| Like a polished shell between black spruce and pines, | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Some strange thing tracks us, turning where we turn. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| You'll say I dream it, being the true daughter | 10 | ·····/··/˘ |
| Of those who in old times endured this dread. | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Look! Where the lily-stems are showing red | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| A silent paddle moves below the water, | 11 | ·/˘/˘····/˘ |
| A sliding shape has stirred them like a breath; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Tall plumes surmount a painted mask of death. | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
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.