Lines Found Among the Papers of a Harvard Undergraduate
The bloom that lies on Fanny's cheekIs all my Latin, all my Greek;The only sciences I knowAre frowns that gloom and smiles that glow;Siberia and ItalyLie in her sweet geography;No scholarship have I but suchAs teaches me to love her much.
Why should I strive to read the skies,Who know the midnight of her eyes?Why should I go so very farTo learn what heavenly bodies are!Not Berenice's starry hairWith Fanny's tresses can compare;Not Venus on a cloudless night,Enslaving Science with her light,Ever reveals so much as whenSHE stares and droops her lids again.
If Nature's secrets are forbiddenTo mortals, she may keep them hidden.AEons and aeons we progressedAnd did not let that break our rest;Little we cared if Mars o'erheadWere or were not inhabited;Without the aid of Saturn's ringsFair girls were wived in those far springs;Warm lips met ours and conquered usOr ere thou wert, Copernicus!
Graybeards, who seek to bridge the chasm'Twixt man to-day and protoplasm,Who theorize and probe and gape,And finally evolve an ape--Yours is a harmless sort of cult,If you are pleased with the result.Some folks admit, with cynic grace,That you have rather proved your case.These dogmatists are so severe!Enough for me that Fanny's here,Enough that, having long survivedPre-Eveic forms, she HAS arrived--An illustration the completestOf the survival of the sweetest.
Linnaeus, avaunt! I only careTo know what flower she wants to wear.I leave it to the addle-patedTo guess how pinks originated,As if it mattered! The chief thingIs that we have them in the Spring,And Fanny likes them. When they come,I straightway send and purchase some.The Origin of Plants--go to!Their proper end I have in view.
O loveliest book that ever manLooked into since the world beganIs Woman! As I turn those pages,As fresh as in the primal ages,As day by day I scan, perplext,The ever subtly changing text,I feel that I am slowly growingTo think no other work worth knowing.And in my copy--there is noneSo perfect as the one I own--I find no thing set down but suchAs teaches me to love it much.
Words in this poem 15
- scholarship n.
- The character and qualities of a scholar; attainments in science or literature; erudition; learning.
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- cloudless a.
- Without a cloud; clear; bright.
- inhabited a.
- Uninhabited. Brathwait.
- theorize v. i.
- To form a theory or theories; to form opinions solely by theory; to speculate. [Cf. F. théoriser.]
- evolve v. t.
- To unfold or unroll; to open and expand; to disentangle and exhibit clearly and satisfactorily; to develop; to derive; to educe. [L. evolvere, evolutum; e out + volvere to roll. See Voluble.]
- cult
- Attentive care; homage; worship. [F. culte, L. cultus care, culture, fr. colere to cultivate. Cf. Cultus.]
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- cynic a.
- Having the qualities of a surly dog; snarling; captious; currish. [L. cynicus of the sect of Cynics, fr. Gr. Hound.]
- survival n.
- A living or continuing longer than, or beyond the existence of, another person, thing, or event; an outliving. [From Survive.]
- avaunt v. t.
- To advance; to move forward; to elevate.
- straightway adv.
- Immediately; without loss of time; without delay.
- primal a.
- First; primary; original; chief. [LL. primalis, fr. L. primus the first. See Prime, a.]
- scan v. t.
- To mount by steps; to go through with step by step. [L. scandere, scansum, to climb, to scan, akin to Skr. skand to spring, leap: cf. F. scander. Cf. Ascend, Descend, Scale a ladder.]
- subtly adv.
- In a subtle manner; slyly; artfully; cunningly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lines Found Among the Papers of a Harvard Undergraduate is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Sisters' Tragedy, with Other Poems, Lyrical and Dramatic, Project Gutenberg ebook #595; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Lines Found Among the Papers of a Harvard Undergraduate, in The Sisters' Tragedy, with Other Poems (1891), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #595, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/aldrich-poems/lines-found-among-the-papers-of-a-harvard-undergraduate.html, id L10775.
Form and metre
Lines Found Among the Papers of a Harvard Undergraduate is 64 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 88% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 18 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 octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AABB--CC cheekA · greekA · knowB · glowB · italy · geography · suchC · muchC
- 2 AABBCCDDEE skiesA · eyesA · farB · areB · hairC · compareC · nightD · lightD · whenE · againE
- 3 AABB--CCDD forbiddenA · hiddenA · progressedB · restB · o'erhead · inhabited · ringsC · springsC · usD · copernicusD
- 4 AABBCCDDEEFF-- chasmA · protoplasmA · gapeB · apeB · cultC · resultC · graceD · caseD · severeE · hereE · survivedF · arrivedF · completest · sweetest
- 5 AABBCCDDEE careA · wearA · patedB · originatedB · thingC · springC · comeD · someD · toE · viewE
- 6 AABBCCDD--EE manA · beganA · pagesB · agesB · perplextC · textC · growingD · knowingD · none · own · suchE · muchE
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The bloom that lies on Fanny's cheek | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Is all my Latin, all my Greek; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The only sciences I know | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| Are frowns that gloom and smiles that glow; | 8 | ········ |
| Siberia and Italy | 8 | ˘/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| Lie in her sweet geography; | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| No scholarship have I but such | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| As teaches me to love her much. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Why should I strive to read the skies, | 8 | ········ |
| Who know the midnight of her eyes? | 8 | ···/···· |
| Why should I go so very far | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To learn what heavenly bodies are! | 9 | ···/˘˘/˘· |
| Not Berenice's starry hair | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With Fanny's tresses can compare; | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Not Venus on a cloudless night, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Enslaving Science with her light, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| Ever reveals so much as when | 8 | /˘˘/···· |
| SHE stares and droops her lids again. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| If Nature's secrets are forbidden | 9 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| To mortals, she may keep them hidden. | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| AEons and aeons we progressed | 6 | ····˘/ |
| And did not let that break our rest; | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Little we cared if Mars o'erhead | 9 | /˘··˘···· |
| Were or were not inhabited; | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| Without the aid of Saturn's rings | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Fair girls were wived in those far springs; | 9 | ····˘···· |
| Warm lips met ours and conquered us | 10 | ···/˘·/˘˘· |
| Or ere thou wert, Copernicus! | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| Graybeards, who seek to bridge the chasm | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| 'Twixt man to-day and protoplasm, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Who theorize and probe and gape, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And finally evolve an ape-- | 8 | ·/˘˘˘/·· |
| Yours is a harmless sort of cult, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| If you are pleased with the result. | 9 | ····˘··˘/ |
| Some folks admit, with cynic grace, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| That you have rather proved your case. | 9 | ···/˘·˘·· |
| These dogmatists are so severe! | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Enough for me that Fanny's here, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Enough that, having long survived | 9 | ˘/·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Pre-Eveic forms, she HAS arrived-- | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| An illustration the completest | 9 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Of the survival of the sweetest. | 9 | ··˘/˘··/˘ |
| Linnaeus, avaunt! I only care | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| To know what flower she wants to wear. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| I leave it to the addle-pated | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| To guess how pinks originated, | 9 | ····˘/˘·˘ |
| As if it mattered! The chief thing | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| Is that we have them in the Spring, | 8 | ········ |
| And Fanny likes them. When they come, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I straightway send and purchase some. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The Origin of Plants--go to! | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Their proper end I have in view. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| O loveliest book that ever man | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Looked into since the world began | 9 | ·˘·····˘/ |
| Is Woman! As I turn those pages, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| As fresh as in the primal ages, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| As day by day I scan, perplext, | 8 | ········ |
| The ever subtly changing text, | 9 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘· |
| I feel that I am slowly growing | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| To think no other work worth knowing. | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| And in my copy--there is none | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| So perfect as the one I own-- | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| I find no thing set down but such | 8 | ········ |
| As teaches me to love it much. | 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.