Sanctuary
This is the bricklayer; hear the thudOf his heavy load dumped down on stone.His lustrous bricks are brighter than blood,His smoking mortar whiter than bone.
Set each sharp-edged, fire-bitten brickStraight by the plumb-line's shivering length;Make my marvelous wall so thickDead nor living may shake its strength.
Full as a crystal cup with drinkIs my cell with dreams, and quiet, and cool....Stop, old man! You must leave a chink;How can I breathe? You can't, you fool!
Words in this poem
- bricklayer n.
- One whose pccupation is to build with bricks. Bricklayer's itch. See under Itch. [Brick + lay.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sanctuary 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, Sanctuary, in Nets to Catch the Wind (1921), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6682, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wylie-nets/sanctuary.html, id L12761.
Form and metre
Sanctuary is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABAB thudA · stoneB · bloodA · boneB
- 2 ABAB brickA · lengthB · thickA · strengthB
- 3 ABAB drinkA · coolB · chinkA · foolB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| This is the bricklayer; hear the thud | 9 | ···/·˘··· |
| Of his heavy load dumped down on stone. | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| His lustrous bricks are brighter than blood, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| His smoking mortar whiter than bone. | 8 | ·/˘/˘/·· |
| Set each sharp-edged, fire-bitten brick | 8 | ····//˘· |
| Straight by the plumb-line's shivering length; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Make my marvelous wall so thick | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Dead nor living may shake its strength. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Full as a crystal cup with drink | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Is my cell with dreams, and quiet, and cool.... | 9 | ······/·· |
| Stop, old man! You must leave a chink; | 8 | ········ |
| How can I breathe? You can't, you fool! | 8 | ········ |
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.