Immortality
Foiled by our fellow-men, depressed, outworn,We leave the brutal world to take its way,And, Patience! in another life, we say,The world shall be thrust down, and we upborne.
And will not, then, the immortal armies scornThe world’s poor, routed leavings? or will theyWho failed under the heat of this life’s daySupport the fervors of the heavenly morn?
No, no! the energy of life may beKept on after the grave, but not begun;And he who flagged not in the earthly strife,
From strength to strength advancing,--only he,His soul well-knit, and all his battles won,Mounts, and that hardly, to eternal life.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- leavings n.
- Things left; remnants; relics.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Immortality 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, Immortality, in Poems (1849–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/arnold-poems/immortality.html, id L06985.
Form and metre
Immortality is 14 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 29% 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 ABBA outwornA · wayB · sayB · upborneA
- 2 ABBA scornA · theyB · dayB · mornA
- 3 CDE beC · begunD · strifeE
- 4 CDE heC · wonD · lifeE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Foiled by our fellow-men, depressed, outworn, | 10 | ··//˘·˘/·· |
| We leave the brutal world to take its way, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And, Patience! in another life, we say, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| The world shall be thrust down, and we upborne. | 10 | ·········· |
| And will not, then, the immortal armies scorn | 11 | ·····˘/˘/˘· |
| The world’s poor, routed leavings? or will they | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Who failed under the heat of this life’s day | 10 | ·········· |
| Support the fervors of the heavenly morn? | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| No, no! the energy of life may be | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Kept on after the grave, but not begun; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And he who flagged not in the earthly strife, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| From strength to strength advancing,--only he, | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| His soul well-knit, and all his battles won, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Mounts, and that hardly, to eternal life. | 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.