Incantation
A white wellIn a black cave;A bright shellIn a dark wave.
A white roseBlack brambles hood;Smooth bright snowsIn a dark wood.
A flung white gloveIn a dark fight;A white doveOn a wild black night.
A white doorIn a dark lane;A bright coreTo bitter black pain.
A white handWaved from dark walls;In a burnt black landBright waterfalls.
A bright sparkWhere black ashes are;In the smothering darkOne white star.
About this text
Incantation 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, Incantation, in Nets to Catch the Wind (1921), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6682, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wylie-nets/incantation.html, id L12777.
Form and metre
Incantation is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 3.9 syllables. 50% 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 ABAB wellA · caveB · shellA · waveB
- 2 ABAB roseA · hoodB · snowsA · woodB
- 3 ABAB gloveA · fightB · doveA · nightB
- 4 ABAB doorA · laneB · coreA · painB
- 5 ABAB handA · wallsB · landA · waterfallsB
- 6 ABAB sparkA · areB · darkA · starB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A white well | 3 | ··· |
| In a black cave; | 4 | ···· |
| A bright shell | 3 | ··· |
| In a dark wave. | 4 | ···· |
| A white rose | 3 | ··· |
| Black brambles hood; | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Smooth bright snows | 3 | ··· |
| In a dark wood. | 4 | ···· |
| A flung white glove | 4 | ···· |
| In a dark fight; | 4 | ···· |
| A white dove | 3 | ··· |
| On a wild black night. | 5 | ····· |
| A white door | 3 | ··· |
| In a dark lane; | 4 | ···· |
| A bright core | 3 | ··· |
| To bitter black pain. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| A white hand | 3 | ··· |
| Waved from dark walls; | 5 | ·˘··· |
| In a burnt black land | 5 | ····· |
| Bright waterfalls. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| A bright spark | 3 | ··· |
| Where black ashes are; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| In the smothering dark | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| One white star. | 3 | ··· |
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.