Human Life
What mortal, when he saw,Life’s voyage done, his heavenly Friend,Could ever yet dare tell him fearlessly,--“I have kept uninfringed my nature’s law;The inly-written chart thou gavest me,To guide me, I have steered by to the end”?
Ah! let us make no claim,On life’s incognizable sea,To too exact a steering of our way;Let us not fret and fear to miss our aim,If some fair coast has lured us to make stay,Or some friend hailed us to keep company.
Ay! we would each fain driveAt random, and not steer by rule.Weakness! and worse, weakness bestowed in vain!Winds from our side the unsuiting consort rive;We rush by coasts where we had lief remain:Man cannot, though he would, live chance’s fool.
No! as the foaming swathOf torn-up water, on the main,Falls heavily away with long-drawn roarOn either side the black deep-furrowed pathCut by an onward-laboring vessel’s prore,And never touches the ship-side again;
Even so we leave behind,As, chartered by some unknown Powers,We stem across the sea of life by night,The joys which were not for our use designed,--The friends to whom we had no natural right,The homes that were not destined to be ours.
Words in this poem
- inly a.
- Internal; interior; secret. [OE. inlich, AS. inlic. See In.]
- incognizable a.
- Not cognizable; incapable of being recognized, known, or distinguished. H.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- laboring a.
- That labors; performing labor; esp., performing coarse, heavy work, not requiring skill also, set apart for labor; as, laboring days.
- prore n.
- The prow or fore part of a ship. [L. prora, Gr. prora. See Prow, n.]
- chartered a.
- Granted or established by charter; having, or existing under, a charter; having a privilege by charter.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Human Life 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, Human Life, in Poems (1849–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/arnold-poems/human-life.html, id L06954.
Form and metre
Human Life is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABCACB, in 2 of the 5 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.0 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 13% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AB-A-B sawA · friendB · fearlessly · lawA · me · endB
- 2 A-BAB- claimA · sea · wayB · aimA · stayB · company
- 3 ABCACB driveA · ruleB · vainC · riveA · remainC · foolB
- 4 -AB-BA swath · mainA · roarB · path · proreB · againA
- 5 ABCACB behindA · powersB · nightC · designedA · rightC · oursB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| What mortal, when he saw, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Life’s voyage done, his heavenly Friend, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Could ever yet dare tell him fearlessly,-- | 9 | ·/······· |
| “I have kept uninfringed my nature’s law; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The inly-written chart thou gavest me, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| To guide me, I have steered by to the end”? | 10 | ·········· |
| Ah! let us make no claim, | 6 | ······ |
| On life’s incognizable sea, | 8 | ··˘/˘˘˘· |
| To too exact a steering of our way; | 10 | ··˘/·/˘·/· |
| Let us not fret and fear to miss our aim, | 10 | ········/· |
| If some fair coast has lured us to make stay, | 10 | ·········· |
| Or some friend hailed us to keep company. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Ay! we would each fain drive | 6 | ······ |
| At random, and not steer by rule. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Weakness! and worse, weakness bestowed in vain! | 10 | /˘··/˘˘/·· |
| Winds from our side the unsuiting consort rive; | 11 | ··/·····˘/· |
| We rush by coasts where we had lief remain: | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Man cannot, though he would, live chance’s fool. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| No! as the foaming swath | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Of torn-up water, on the main, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Falls heavily away with long-drawn roar | 9 | ·/˘˘/···· |
| On either side the black deep-furrowed path | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Cut by an onward-laboring vessel’s prore, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| And never touches the ship-side again; | 9 | ·//˘···˘/ |
| Even so we leave behind, | 7 | /˘····· |
| As, chartered by some unknown Powers, | 9 | ·/˘··˘//˘ |
| We stem across the sea of life by night, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| The joys which were not for our use designed,-- | 10 | ······/·˘/ |
| The friends to whom we had no natural right, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The homes that were not destined to be ours. | 10 | ·····/˘··/ |
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.