Callicles
Bah! Thou a doctor! Thou art superstitious.Simple Pausanias, ’twas no miracle!Pantheia, for I know her kinsmen well,Was subject to these trances from a girl.Empedocles would say so, did he deign;But he still lets the people, whom he scorns,Gape and cry wizard at him, if they list.But thou, thou art no company for him:Thou art as cross, as soured as himself.Thou hast some wrong from thine own citizens,And then thy friend is banished; and on that,Straightway thou fallest to arraign the times,As if the sky was impious not to fall.The sophists are no enemies of his;I hear, Gorgias, their chief, speaks nobly of him,As of his gifted master, and once friend.He is too scornful, too high-wrought, too bitter.’Tis not the times, ’tis not the sophists, vex him:There is some root of suffering in himself,Some secret and unfollowed vein of woe,Which makes the time look black and sad to him.Pester him not, in this his sombre mood,With questionings about an idle tale,But lead him through the lovely mountain paths,And keep his mind from preying on itself,And talk to him of things at hand and common,Not miracles! thou art a learned man,But credulous of fables as a girl.
Words in this poem
- deign v. t.
- To esteem worthy; to consider worth notice; -- opposed to disdain. [OE. deinen, deignen, OF. degner, deigner, daigner, F. daigner, fr. L. dignari to deem worthy, deign, fr. dignus worthy; akin to decere to be fitting. See Decent]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- straightway adv.
- Immediately; without loss of time; without delay.
- arraign v. t.
- To call or set as a prisoner at the bar of a court to answer to the matter charged in an indictment or complaint. Blackstone. [OE. arainen, arenen, OF. aragnier, aranier, araisnier, F. arraisonner, fr. LL. arrationare to address to call before court; L. ad + ratio reason, reasoning, LL.]
- nobly adv.
- Of noble extraction; as, nobly born or descended.
- pester v. t.
- To trouble; to disturb; to annoy; to harass with petty vexations. [Abbrev. fr. impester, fr. OF. empaistrier, empestrer, to entangle the feet or legs, to embarrass, F. empêtrer; pref. em-, en- (L. in in) + LL. pastorium, pastor]
- sombre n.
- Gloom; obscurity; duskiness; somberness.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Callicles is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #54985; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Matthew Arnold, Callicles, in Poems (1849–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/arnold-poems/callicles-4.html, id L07034.
Form and metre
Callicles is 28 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in iambic 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 -AAB---CD-----C--CD-C---DEEB superstitious · miracleA · wellA · girlB · deign · scorns · list · himC · himselfD · citizens · that · times · fall · his · himC · friend · bitter · himC · himselfD · woe · himC · mood · tale · paths · itselfD · commonE · manE · girlB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Bah! Thou a doctor! Thou art superstitious. | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| Simple Pausanias, ’twas no miracle! | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| Pantheia, for I know her kinsmen well, | 9 | ········· |
| Was subject to these trances from a girl. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Empedocles would say so, did he deign; | 9 | ········· |
| But he still lets the people, whom he scorns, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Gape and cry wizard at him, if they list. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But thou, thou art no company for him: | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Thou art as cross, as soured as himself. | 9 | ·····/·˘/ |
| Thou hast some wrong from thine own citizens, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And then thy friend is banished; and on that, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Straightway thou fallest to arraign the times, | 10 | /˘·/˘·˘/·· |
| As if the sky was impious not to fall. | 11 | ·····˘/˘··· |
| The sophists are no enemies of his; | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| I hear, Gorgias, their chief, speaks nobly of him, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| As of his gifted master, and once friend. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| He is too scornful, too high-wrought, too bitter. | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| ’Tis not the times, ’tis not the sophists, vex him: | 11 | ··········· |
| There is some root of suffering in himself, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Some secret and unfollowed vein of woe, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Which makes the time look black and sad to him. | 10 | ·········· |
| Pester him not, in this his sombre mood, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| With questionings about an idle tale, | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| But lead him through the lovely mountain paths, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And keep his mind from preying on itself, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And talk to him of things at hand and common, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Not miracles! thou art a learned man, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But credulous of fables as a girl. | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
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