The Second Best
Moderate tasks and moderate leisure,Quiet living, strict-kept measureBoth in suffering and in pleasure,--’Tis for this thy nature yearns.
But so many books thou readest,But so many schemes thou breedest,But so many wishes feedest,That thy poor head almost turns.
And (the world’s so madly jangled,Human things so fast entangled)Nature’s wish must now be strangledFor that best which she discerns.
So it must be! yet, while leadingA strained life, while over-feeding,Like the rest, his wit with reading,No small profit that man earns,--
Who through all he meets can steer him,Can reject what cannot clear him,Cling to what can truly cheer him;Who each day more surely learns
That an impulse, from the distanceOf his deepest, best existence,To the words, “Hope, Light, Persistence,”Strongly sets and truly burns.
Words in this poem
- madly adv.
- In a mad manner; without reason or understanding; wildly. [From Mad, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Second Best 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, The Second Best, in Poems (1849–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/arnold-poems/the-second-best.html, id L06959.
Form and metre
The Second Best is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 15 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% 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 AAAB leisureA · measureA · pleasureA · yearnsB
- 2 -CCB readest · breedestC · feedestC · turnsB
- 3 DDDB jangledD · entangledD · strangledD · discernsB
- 4 EE-B leadingE · feedingE · reading · earnsB
- 5 ---B him · him · him · learnsB
- 6 FFFB distanceF · existenceF · persistenceF · burnsB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate tasks and moderate leisure, | 9 | /˘··/˘·/˘ |
| Quiet living, strict-kept measure | 8 | /˘/˘··/˘ |
| Both in suffering and in pleasure,-- | 9 | ··/˘˘··/˘ |
| ’Tis for this thy nature yearns. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| But so many books thou readest, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| But so many schemes thou breedest, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| But so many wishes feedest, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| That thy poor head almost turns. | 7 | ····/·· |
| And (the world’s so madly jangled, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Human things so fast entangled) | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| Nature’s wish must now be strangled | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| For that best which she discerns. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| So it must be! yet, while leading | 8 | ······/˘ |
| A strained life, while over-feeding, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Like the rest, his wit with reading, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| No small profit that man earns,-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Who through all he meets can steer him, | 8 | ········ |
| Can reject what cannot clear him, | 8 | ·˘/·/˘·· |
| Cling to what can truly cheer him; | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Who each day more surely learns | 7 | ····/˘· |
| That an impulse, from the distance | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Of his deepest, best existence, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| To the words, “Hope, Light, Persistence,” | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Strongly sets and truly burns. | 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.