Shakspeare
Others abide our question. Thou art free.We ask and ask. Thou smilest, and art still,Out-topping knowledge. For the loftiest hill,Who to the stars uncrowns his majesty,
Planting his steadfast footsteps in the sea,Making the heaven of heavens his dwelling-place,Spares but the cloudy border of his baseTo the foiled searching of mortality;
And thou, who didst the stars and sunbeams know,Self-schooled, self-scanned, self-honored, self-secure,Didst tread on earth unguessed at.--Better so!
All pains the immortal spirit must endure,All weakness which impairs, all griefs which bow,Find their sole speech in that victorious brow.
Words in this poem
- mortality n.
- The condition or quality of being mortal; subjection to death or to the necessity of dying. [L. mortalitas: cf. F. mortalité.]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Shakspeare 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, Shakspeare, in Poems (1849–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/arnold-poems/shakspeare.html, id L06932.
Form and metre
Shakspeare is 14 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 7% 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 ABB- freeA · stillB · hillB · majesty
- 2 ACC- seaA · placeC · baseC · mortality
- 3 DED knowD · secureE · soD
- 4 EFF endureE · bowF · browF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Others abide our question. Thou art free. | 10 | /˘˘///˘··· |
| We ask and ask. Thou smilest, and art still, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Out-topping knowledge. For the loftiest hill, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Who to the stars uncrowns his majesty, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Planting his steadfast footsteps in the sea, | 10 | /˘·/·/···· |
| Making the heaven of heavens his dwelling-place, | 11 | /˘·/·/˘·/˘· |
| Spares but the cloudy border of his base | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| To the foiled searching of mortality; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| And thou, who didst the stars and sunbeams know, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Self-schooled, self-scanned, self-honored, self-secure, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Didst tread on earth unguessed at.--Better so! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| All pains the immortal spirit must endure, | 10 | ···˘/˘/·˘/ |
| All weakness which impairs, all griefs which bow, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| Find their sole speech in that victorious brow. | 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.