The Dragon-Fly by Sarah Noble Ives
The poem follows a speaker recalling a walk along the Shining Way, through a garden, across a lawn, past a road, and down a hill to a strange, still place unlike the ordinary world. There they find a small pond edged with rushes, bordered by marshes thick with wild rice, fragrant flag, iris beds, and purple arrow-heads. Little waves of air stir the fair grasses while the shining blue water reflects broad round lily leaves. The speaker peeps into one lily's wide-open petals and sees a sun glowing within its heart. The tall, free rushes seem like a forest, with rice-trees waving around, yet everything is silent, and the lilies lie still in the golden summer day. Suddenly a monster Dragon-Fly whirs down from the wide blue sky, coming proudly and alone, his armor polished to a flame, his gauzy wings catching both the water's blue and the yellow sunbeams. He is revealed to be a hermit who lives in this spot on the sweetness the iris gives, meaning the place the speaker found was not entirely their own to claim. Each day he sallies forth in every direction, east, west, south, and north, tilting like a tourney knight and putting all his foes to flight. No grasshopper or cricket ever dares to stir in his presence, and the water-bugs at play scud away the moment they see him. His duty is to keep sentry while the lilies sleep, guarding against every harmful thing: bats that bite, gnats that sting, crawling worms, and robber bees, all of which must flee from his shining lance.
By Sarah Noble Ives · Genre: Poetry, Children's Literature, Nature Writing · 498 words
First lines
Where the Shining Way leads on, / Thro' the garden, o'er the lawn, / Past the road and down the hill, / There's a place so strange and still, / Nothing like the world we see / Every morning, you and me. / There we found a little pond / Edged with rushes, and beyond / Grow the marshes, green and high. / Wild rice climbing to the sky, / Fragrant flag and iris beds / Fringed with purple arrow-heads.
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Genres
- Poetry — The work is written in structured verse with consistent rhyming couplets and poetic meter, employing elevated language and lyrical devices throughout.
- Children's Literature — The poem's accessible style, whimsical tone, simple narrative, and focus on nature observation make it appropriate for young readers, with themes of wonder and imagination.
- Nature Writing — The poem contains detailed, vivid descriptions of natural landscapes including marshes, lilies, rushes, water, and insects, demonstrating careful observation of the natural world.
- Fantasy — The dragonfly is personified with humanlike qualities—described as a hermit, knight, and sentry—lending the poem an imaginative, fantastical dimension beyond realistic nature observation.
Tags
dragonfly · poem · children's poetry · nature · pond · marsh · water lilies · insects · garden · pastoral · narrative poem · whimsy
What this Textopian page supports
The Dragon-Fly is listed on Textopian as a poem by Sarah Noble Ives, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Sarah Noble Ives
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Poetry, Children's Literature, Nature Writing, Fantasy, Narrative Poetry
- Length: 498 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Work identity for The Dragon-Fly by Sarah Noble Ives
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