Consolation
Mist clogs the sunshine.Smoky dwarf housesHem me round everywhere;A vague dejectionWeighs down my soul.
Yet, while I languish,Everywhere countlessProspects unroll themselves,And countless beingsPass countless moods.
Far hence, in Asia,On the smooth convent-roofs,On the gold terraces,Of holy Lassa,Bright shines the sun.
Gray time-worn marblesHold the pure Muses;In their cool gallery,By yellow Tiber,They still look fair.
Strange unloved uproarShrills round their portal;Yet not on HeliconKept they more cloudlessTheir noble calm.
Through sun-proof alleysIn a lone, sand-hemmedCity of Africa,A blind, led beggar,Age-bowed, asks alms.
No bolder robberErst abode ambushedDeep in the sandy waste;No clearer eyesightSpied prey afar.
Saharan sand-windsSeared his keen eyeballs;Spent is the spoil he won.For him the presentHolds only pain.
Two young, fair lovers,Where the warm June-wind,Fresh from the summer fieldsPlays fondly round them,Stand, tranced in joy.
With sweet, joined voices,And with eyes brimming,“Ah!” they cry, “Destiny,Prolong the present!Time, stand still here!”
The prompt stern goddessShakes her head, frowning:Time gives his hour-glassIts due reversal;Their hour is gone.
With weak indulgenceDid the just goddessLengthen their happiness,She lengthened alsoDistress elsewhere.
The hour whose happyUnalloyed momentsI would eternalize,Ten thousand mournersWell pleased see end.
The bleak, stern hour,Whose severe momentsI would annihilate,Is passed by othersIn warmth, light, joy.
Time, so complained of,Who to no one manShows partiality,Brings round to all menSome undimmed hours.
Words in this poem 18
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- dejection n.
- A casting down; depression. Hallywell. [L. dejectio a casting down: cf. F. déjection.]
- languish v. i.
- To cause to dr Shak.
- countless a.
- Incapable of being counted; not ascertainable; innumerable.
- unroll v. t.
- To open, as what is rolled or convolved; as, to unroll cloth; to unroll a banner. [1st pref. un- + roll.]
- helicon n.
- A mountain in Boeotia, in Greece, supposed by the Greeks to be the residence of Apollo and the Muses.
- cloudless a.
- Without a cloud; clear; bright.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- abode n.
- Act of waiting; delay. [OE. abad, abood, fr. abiden to abide. See Abide. For the change of vowel, cf. abode, imp. of abide.]
- clearer n.
- One who, or that which, clears.
- eyesight n.
- Sight of the eye; the sense of seeing; view; observation.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- seared a.
- Scorched; cauterized; hence, figuratively, insensible; not susceptible to moral influences.
- fondly adv.
- Foolishly. Verstegan (1673).
- brimming a.
- Full to the brim; overflowing.
- unalloyed a.
- Not alloyed; not reduced by foreign admixture; unmixed; unqualified; pure; as, unalloyed metals; unalloyed happiness.
- eternalize v. t.
- To make eternal. Shelton.
- annihilate v. t.
- To reduce to nothing or nonexistence; to destroy the existence of; to cause to cease to be. [L. annihilare; ad + nihilum, nihil, nothing, ne hilum (filum) not a thread, nothing at all. Cf. File, a row.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Consolation 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, Consolation, in Poems (1849–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/arnold-poems/consolation.html, id L06960.
Form and metre
Consolation is 75 lines in 15 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.0 syllables. 40 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 37% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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.
- 11 A-A-- goddessA · frowning · glassA · reversal · gone
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Mist clogs the sunshine. | 5 | ···/· |
| Smoky dwarf houses | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Hem me round everywhere; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A vague dejection | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Weighs down my soul. | 4 | ···· |
| Yet, while I languish, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Everywhere countless | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Prospects unroll themselves, | 6 | /˘˘/˘/ |
| And countless beings | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Pass countless moods. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Far hence, in Asia, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| On the smooth convent-roofs, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| On the gold terraces, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Of holy Lassa, | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Bright shines the sun. | 4 | ···· |
| Gray time-worn marbles | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Hold the pure Muses; | 5 | ···/˘ |
| In their cool gallery, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| By yellow Tiber, | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| They still look fair. | 4 | ···· |
| Strange unloved uproar | 5 | ·˘//· |
| Shrills round their portal; | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Yet not on Helicon | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Kept they more cloudless | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Their noble calm. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Through sun-proof alleys | 5 | ···/˘ |
| In a lone, sand-hemmed | 5 | ····· |
| City of Africa, | 6 | /˘·/˘˘ |
| A blind, led beggar, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Age-bowed, asks alms. | 4 | ···· |
| No bolder robber | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Erst abode ambushed | 5 | ·˘//· |
| Deep in the sandy waste; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| No clearer eyesight | 5 | ·/˘/· |
| Spied prey afar. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Saharan sand-winds | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| Seared his keen eyeballs; | 5 | ···/· |
| Spent is the spoil he won. | 6 | ······ |
| For him the present | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Holds only pain. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Two young, fair lovers, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Where the warm June-wind, | 5 | ····· |
| Fresh from the summer fields | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Plays fondly round them, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Stand, tranced in joy. | 4 | ···· |
| With sweet, joined voices, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| And with eyes brimming, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| “Ah!” they cry, “Destiny, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Prolong the present! | 5 | ˘/·/˘ |
| Time, stand still here!” | 4 | ···· |
| The prompt stern goddess | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Shakes her head, frowning: | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Time gives his hour-glass | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Its due reversal; | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Their hour is gone. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| With weak indulgence | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Did the just goddess | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Lengthen their happiness, | 6 | /˘·/˘˘ |
| She lengthened also | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Distress elsewhere. | 4 | ˘//· |
| The hour whose happy | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Unalloyed moments | 5 | ˘/·/˘ |
| I would eternalize, | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| Ten thousand mourners | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Well pleased see end. | 4 | ···· |
| The bleak, stern hour, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Whose severe moments | 5 | ·˘//˘ |
| I would annihilate, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Is passed by others | 5 | ···/˘ |
| In warmth, light, joy. | 4 | ···· |
| Time, so complained of, | 5 | ··˘/· |
| Who to no one man | 5 | ····· |
| Shows partiality, | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| Brings round to all men | 5 | ····· |
| Some undimmed hours. | 5 | ···/˘ |
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.