Man and Nature
A sad man on a summer dayDid look upon the earth and say--
"Purple cloud the hill-top binding;Folded hills the valleys wind in;Valleys with fresh streams among you;Streams with bosky trees along you;Trees with many birds and blossoms;Birds with music-trembling bosoms;Blossoms dropping dews that wreathe youTo your fellow flowers beneath you;Flowers that constellate on earth;Earth that shakest to the mirthOf the merry Titan Ocean,All his shining hair in motion!Why am I thus the only oneWho can be dark beneath the sun?"
But when the summer day was past,He looked to heaven and smiled at last,Self-answered so--"Because, O cloud,Pressing with thy crumpled shroudHeavily on mountain top,--Hills that almost seem to dropStricken with a misty deathTo the valleys underneath,--Valleys sighing with the torrent,--Waters streaked with branches horrent,--Branchless trees that shake your headWildly o'er your blossoms spreadWhere the common flowers are found,--Flowers with foreheads to the ground,--Ground that shriekest while the seaWith his iron smiteth thee--I am, besides, the only oneWho can be bright without the sun."
Words in this poem
- bosky a.
- Woody or bushy; covered with boscage or thickets. [Cf. Bushy.]
- constellate v. i.
- To join luster; to shine with united radiance, or one general light. [Pref. con- + L. stellatus, p.p. of stellare to cover with stars, stella star. See Stellate.]
- stricken p. p.
- Struck; smitten; wounded; as, the stricken deer.
- horrent a.
- Standing erect, as bristles; covered with bristling points; bristled; bristling. [L. horrens, p.pr. of horrere to bristle. See Horror.]
- branchless a.
- Destitude of branches or shoots; without any valuable product; barren; naked.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Man and Nature is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #33363; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Man and Nature, in Lady Geraldine's Courtship, and Other Poems (1844), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #33363, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/barrett-browning-poems-2/man-and-nature.html, id L24835.
Form and metre
Man and Nature is 35 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 74% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, 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 AA dayA · sayA
- 2 --AA--AABBCCDD binding · in · youA · youA · blossoms · bosoms · youA · youA · earthB · mirthB · oceanC · motionC · oneD · sunD
- 3 AA-BBCC--DDEEFFGGHH pastA · lastA · so · cloudB · shroudB · topC · dropC · death · underneath · torrentD · horrentD · headE · spreadE · foundF · groundF · seaG · theeG · oneH · sunH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A sad man on a summer day | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Did look upon the earth and say-- | 8 | ········ |
| "Purple cloud the hill-top binding; | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Folded hills the valleys wind in; | 8 | /˘··/˘·· |
| Valleys with fresh streams among you; | 8 | /˘······ |
| Streams with bosky trees along you; | 8 | ··/˘·˘/· |
| Trees with many birds and blossoms; | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Birds with music-trembling bosoms; | 9 | ··/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Blossoms dropping dews that wreathe you | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| To your fellow flowers beneath you; | 8 | ··/˘/··· |
| Flowers that constellate on earth; | 8 | /˘·/˘˘·· |
| Earth that shakest to the mirth | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Of the merry Titan Ocean, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| All his shining hair in motion! | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Why am I thus the only one | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Who can be dark beneath the sun?" | 8 | ········ |
| But when the summer day was past, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He looked to heaven and smiled at last, | 8 | ···/···· |
| Self-answered so-- | 4 | ·/˘· |
| "Because, O cloud, | 4 | ···· |
| Pressing with thy crumpled shroud | 8 | /˘··/˘˘· |
| Heavily on mountain top,-- | 7 | /˘˘·/˘· |
| Hills that almost seem to drop | 7 | ··/···· |
| Stricken with a misty death | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| To the valleys underneath,-- | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Valleys sighing with the torrent,-- | 8 | /˘/˘··/˘ |
| Waters streaked with branches horrent,-- | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Branchless trees that shake your head | 7 | /˘····· |
| Wildly o'er your blossoms spread | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Where the common flowers are found,-- | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| Flowers with foreheads to the ground,-- | 8 | /˘·/···· |
| Ground that shriekest while the sea | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| With his iron smiteth thee-- | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| I am, besides, the only one | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Who can be bright without the sun." | 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.