Urania
She smiles and smiles, and will not sigh,While we for hopeless passion die;Yet she could love, those eyes declare,Were but men nobler than they are.
Eagerly once her gracious kenWas turned upon the sons of men;But light the serious visage grew grew--She looked, and smiled, and saw them through.
Our petty souls, our strutting wits,Our labored, puny passion-fits,--Ah, may she scorn them still, till weScorn them as bitterly as she!
Yet show her once, ye heavenly Powers,One of some worthier race than ours!One for whose sake she once might proveHow deeply she who scorns can love.
His eyes be like the starry lights,His voice like sounds of summer nights;In all his lovely mien let pierceThe magic of the universe!
And she to him will reach her hand,And gazing in his eyes will stand,And know her friend, and weep for glee,And cry, Long, long I’ve looked for thee.
Then will she weep: with smiles, till then,Coldly she mocks the sons of men;Till then, her lovely eyes maintainTheir pure, unwavering, deep disdain.
Words in this poem
- visage n.
- The face, countenance, or look of a person or an animal; -- chiefly applied to the human face. [F. visage, from L. visus a seeing, a look, fr. videre, visum, to see. See Vision.]
- puny a.
- Imperfectly developed in size or vigor; small and feeble; inferior; petty. [F. puîté younger, later born, OF. puisné; puis afterwards (L. post; see Post-) + né born, L. natus. See Natal, and cf. Puisne.]
- bitterly adv.
- In a bitter manner.
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- coldly adv.
- In a cold manner; without warmth, animation, or feeling; with indifference; calmly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Urania 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, Urania, in Poems (1849–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/arnold-poems/urania.html, id L07010.
Form and metre
Urania is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 5 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 18% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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 AA-- sighA · dieA · declare · are
- 2 AABB kenA · menA · grewB · throughB
- 3 AABB witsA · fitsA · weB · sheB
- 4 AABB powersA · oursA · proveB · loveB
- 5 AA-- lightsA · nightsA · pierce · universe
- 6 AABB handA · standA · gleeB · theeB
- 7 AABB thenA · menA · maintainB · disdainB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| She smiles and smiles, and will not sigh, | 8 | ········ |
| While we for hopeless passion die; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Yet she could love, those eyes declare, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Were but men nobler than they are. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Eagerly once her gracious ken | 8 | /˘˘··/˘· |
| Was turned upon the sons of men; | 8 | ········ |
| But light the serious visage grew grew-- | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| She looked, and smiled, and saw them through. | 8 | ········ |
| Our petty souls, our strutting wits, | 8 | //˘·//˘· |
| Our labored, puny passion-fits,-- | 8 | //˘/˘/˘· |
| Ah, may she scorn them still, till we | 8 | ········ |
| Scorn them as bitterly as she! | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Yet show her once, ye heavenly Powers, | 8 | ·····/˘/ |
| One of some worthier race than ours! | 8 | ···/˘··/ |
| One for whose sake she once might prove | 8 | ········ |
| How deeply she who scorns can love. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| His eyes be like the starry lights, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| His voice like sounds of summer nights; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In all his lovely mien let pierce | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The magic of the universe! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And she to him will reach her hand, | 8 | ········ |
| And gazing in his eyes will stand, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And know her friend, and weep for glee, | 8 | ········ |
| And cry, Long, long I’ve looked for thee. | 8 | ········ |
| Then will she weep: with smiles, till then, | 8 | ········ |
| Coldly she mocks the sons of men; | 8 | /˘······ |
| Till then, her lovely eyes maintain | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Their pure, unwavering, deep disdain. | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
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.