Worldly Place
Even in a palace, life may be led well!So spake the imperial sage, purest of men,Marcus Aurelius. But the stifling denOf common life, where, crowded up pell-mell,
Our freedom for a little bread we sell,And drudge under some foolish master’s kenWho rates us if we peer outside our pen,--Matched with a palace, is not this a hell?
Even in a palace! On his truth sincere,Who spoke these words, no shadow ever came;And when my ill-schooled spirit is aflame
Some nobler, ampler stage of life to win,I’ll stop, and say, “There were no succor here!The aids to noble life are all within.”
Words in this poem
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- aflame adv.
- Inflames; glowing with light or passion; ablaze. G. Eliot. [Pref. a- + flame.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Worldly Place 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, Worldly Place, in Poems (1849–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/arnold-poems/worldly-place.html, id L06979.
Form and metre
Worldly Place is 14 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 84% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 21% 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 ABBA wellA · menB · denB · mellA
- 2 ABBA sellA · kenB · penB · hellA
- 3 -AA sincere · cameA · aflameA
- 4 A-A winA · here · withinA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Even in a palace, life may be led well! | 10 | /··/˘····· |
| So spake the imperial sage, purest of men, | 11 | ···˘/˘·/˘·· |
| Marcus Aurelius. But the stifling den | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Of common life, where, crowded up pell-mell, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Our freedom for a little bread we sell, | 10 | //˘··/˘··· |
| And drudge under some foolish master’s ken | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Who rates us if we peer outside our pen,-- | 10 | ······///· |
| Matched with a palace, is not this a hell? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Even in a palace! On his truth sincere, | 10 | /··/˘···˘/ |
| Who spoke these words, no shadow ever came; | 9 | ·····/·/· |
| And when my ill-schooled spirit is aflame | 9 | ·····/·˘/ |
| Some nobler, ampler stage of life to win, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| I’ll stop, and say, “There were no succor here! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The aids to noble life are all within.” | 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.