To Fausta
Joy comes and goes, hope ebbs and flowsLike the wave;Change doth unknit the tranquil strength of men.Love lends life a little grace,A few sad smiles; and thenBoth are laid in one cold place,--In the grave.
Dreams dawn and fly, friends smile and dieLike spring flowers;Our vaunted life is one long funeral.Men dig graves with bitter tearsFor their dead hopes; and all,Mazed with doubts and sick with fears,Count the hours.
We count the hours! These dreams of ours,False and hollow,Do we go hence, and find they are not dead?Joys we dimly apprehendFaces that smiled and fled,Hopes born here, and born to end,Shall we follow?
Words in this poem
- unknit v. t.
- To undo or unravel what is knitted together. [1st un- + knit.]
- dimly adv.
- In a dim or obscure manner; not brightly or clearly; with imperfect sight.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Fausta 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, To Fausta, in Poems (1849–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/arnold-poems/to-fausta.html, id L06956.
Form and metre
To Fausta is 21 lines in 3 stanzas of 7 lines each. 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.6 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 24% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 -ABCBCA flows · waveA · menB · graceC · thenB · placeC · graveA
- 2 -ABCBCA die · flowersA · funeralB · tearsC · allB · fearsC · hoursA
- 3 -ABCBCA ours · hollowA · deadB · apprehendC · fledB · endC · followA
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Joy comes and goes, hope ebbs and flows | 8 | ········ |
| Like the wave; | 3 | ··· |
| Change doth unknit the tranquil strength of men. | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Love lends life a little grace, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| A few sad smiles; and then | 6 | ······ |
| Both are laid in one cold place,-- | 7 | ······· |
| In the grave. | 3 | ··· |
| Dreams dawn and fly, friends smile and die | 8 | ········ |
| Like spring flowers; | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Our vaunted life is one long funeral. | 9 | //˘····/˘ |
| Men dig graves with bitter tears | 7 | ····/˘· |
| For their dead hopes; and all, | 6 | ······ |
| Mazed with doubts and sick with fears, | 8 | ·˘······ |
| Count the hours. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| We count the hours! These dreams of ours, | 9 | ···/···/˘ |
| False and hollow, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Do we go hence, and find they are not dead? | 10 | ·········· |
| Joys we dimly apprehend | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Faces that smiled and fled, | 7 | /˘··˘·· |
| Hopes born here, and born to end, | 7 | ······· |
| Shall we follow? | 4 | ··/˘ |
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.