Virginia Lucas Poetry Scrapbook

Formal Description of "I see them on their winding way" by Bishop Reginald Heber

Bishop Reginald Heber is known for his Hymns, a specific form of poetry meant to be sung which uses tetrameter in the first and third lines of a stanza, and trimeter on the second and fourth. However, a quick scansion for the first four lines reveals that this is in fact not a Hymnal poem, but instead simply in iambic tetrameter, with occasional exceptions.  
            The rhyme scheme of this poem is in couplets: aa bb cc etc. The only exception is the final line of each stanza, line 11 and line 23, which are a reprise of the title line: “I see them on their winding way.” All of the rhymes are masculine and most of the rhymes are true. There is one slant rhyme and it is in the couplet on lines 3 and 4, where Heber rhymes “daring high” with “victory.” There is also inconsistency in the rhyme scheme in the way Virginia Lucas copied the poem into her book: lines 20, 21, and 22 all rhyme; however, line 21 and 22 were originally supposed to be on the same line in the echoing pattern, as seen on line 10 in the first stanza.
            Line 10 consists of the most variety in the poem. The line begins as usual, with four iambs. Then, after a caesura, the last two and a half feet are repeated, “rising oer the hill,” where RI, OER, and HILL are stressed. This means the echo is a lame stressed foot and two iambs. After a second caesura, this echo repeats again. In this way, the caesura almost acts as the unstressed beat of the stressed RI, slowing the entire poem’s meter dramatically. There is another echo at the tenth line of the second stanza; however, since the repetition is only in “they come,” this maintains the iambic tetrameter.
            Line 18 is also interesting, as the first two syllables can be read as either an iamb or a spondee. The line reads, “Fourth, fourth, and meet them on their way.” To maintain the iambic tetrameter, the stresses would be on the second FOURTH, MEET, ON, and WAY. This reading of “Fourth, fourth,” is possible because, with the stress on the second “fourth” allows it to be read more as an exclamation. However, this does not allow for smooth reading of the meter. Instead, this line is read more smoothly as a spondee and two anapests, making this line still have four stresses, but only three feet: FOURTH FOURTH and meet THEM on their WAY.
            Finally, most of the poem has a mix of end-stopped and enjambed lines. The first ten lines are in heroic couplets (in tetrameter), with a fairly consistent pattern of enjambed line and end-stopped line. The second stanza has far less consistent heroic couplets. The first is a heroic couplet, but the rest of the lines flow into each other with a mix of enjambment and end-stop. Other than the strange tenth line, the most noticeable caesura is in line 7, between “gone” and “the moon.” There are more caesuras in line 13, “horn, they;” and line 14, “pass, o’er.” These do not disrupt the iambic tetrameter, as they are actually quite pleasant to the ear as they split the line into two even iambic feet on either side.