On Seeing, in the Country, His Picture of “The Bottle”
Artist, whose hand, with horror winged, hath tornFrom the rank life of towns this leaf! and flungThe prodigy of full-blown crime amongValleys and men to middle fortune born,Not innocent, indeed, yet not forlorn,--Say, what shall calm us when such guests intrudeLike comets on the heavenly solitude?Shall breathless glades, cheered by shy Dian’s horn,
Cold-bubbling springs, or caves? Not so! The soulBreasts her own griefs; and, urged too fiercely, says,“Why tremble? True, the nobleness of man
May be by man effaced; man can controlTo pain, to death, the bent of his own days.Know thou the worst! So much, not more, he can.”
Words in this poem
- artist n.
- One who practices some mechanic art or craft; an artisan. [F. artiste, LL. artista, fr. L. ars. See Art, n., and cf. Artiste.]
- prodigy n.
- Something extraordinary, or out of the usual course of nature, from which omens are drawn; a portent; as, eclipses and meteors were anciently deemed prodigies. [L. prodigium; pro before + (perh.) a word appearing in adagium adage: cf. F. prodige. Cf. Adage.]
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- 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,]
- breathless a.
- Spent with labor or violent action; out of breath.
- nobleness n.
- The quality or state of being noble; greatness; dignity; magnanimity; elevation of mind, character, or station; nobility; grandeur; stateliness.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On Seeing, in the Country, His Picture of “The Bottle” 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, On Seeing, in the Country, His Picture of “The Bottle”, in Poems (1849–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/arnold-poems/on-seeing-in-the-country-his-picture-of-the-bottle.html, id L06937.
Form and metre
On Seeing, in the Country, His Picture of “The Bottle” is 14 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 50% 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 ABBAACCA tornA · flungB · amongB · bornA · forlornA · intrudeC · solitudeC · hornA
- 2 D-E soulD · says · manE
- 3 D-E controlD · days · canE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Artist, whose hand, with horror winged, hath torn | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| From the rank life of towns this leaf! and flung | 10 | ·········· |
| The prodigy of full-blown crime among | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Valleys and men to middle fortune born, | 10 | /˘···/˘/˘· |
| Not innocent, indeed, yet not forlorn,-- | 9 | ·/˘˘/··˘/ |
| Say, what shall calm us when such guests intrude | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Like comets on the heavenly solitude? | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Shall breathless glades, cheered by shy Dian’s horn, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Cold-bubbling springs, or caves? Not so! The soul | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Breasts her own griefs; and, urged too fiercely, says, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| “Why tremble? True, the nobleness of man | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| May be by man effaced; man can control | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| To pain, to death, the bent of his own days. | 10 | ·········· |
| Know thou the worst! So much, not more, he can.” | 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.