Pis Aller
“Man is blind because of sin;Revelation makes him sure:Without that, who looks withinLooks in vain, for all’s obscure.”
Nay, look closer into man!Tell me, can you find indeedNothing sure, no moral planClear prescribed, without your creed?
“No, I nothing can perceive!Without that, all’s dark for men.That, or nothing, I believe.”--For God’s sake, believe it, then!
Words in this poem
- closer n.
- One who, or that which, closes; specifically, a boot closer. See under Boot.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Pis Aller 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, Pis Aller, in Poems (1849–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/arnold-poems/pis-aller.html, id L07023.
Form and metre
Pis Aller is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
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 ABAB sinA · sureB · withinA · obscureB
- 2 ABAB manA · indeedB · planA · creedB
- 3 ABAB perceiveA · menB · believeA · thenB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| “Man is blind because of sin; | 7 | ······· |
| Revelation makes him sure: | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Without that, who looks within | 7 | ······· |
| Looks in vain, for all’s obscure.” | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Nay, look closer into man! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Tell me, can you find indeed | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Nothing sure, no moral plan | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Clear prescribed, without your creed? | 8 | ·˘/˘···· |
| “No, I nothing can perceive! | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Without that, all’s dark for men. | 7 | ······· |
| That, or nothing, I believe.”-- | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| For God’s sake, believe it, then! | 7 | ···˘/·· |
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.