The Clod and the Pebble
"Love seeketh not itself to please,Nor for itself hath any care,But for another gives it ease,And builds a heaven in hell's despair."
So sang a little clod of clay,Trodden with the cattle's feet,But a pebble of the brookWarbled out these metres meet:
"Love seeketh only Self to please,To bind another to its delight,Joys in another's loss of ease,And builds a hell in heaven's despite."
Words in this poem
- clod n.
- A lump or mass, especially of earth, turf, or clay. [OE. clodde, latter form of clot. See Clot.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Clod and the Pebble is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of William Blake, Project Gutenberg ebook #574; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Blake, The Clod and the Pebble, in Poems of William Blake (1783–1794), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #574, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/blake-poems/the-clod-and-the-pebble.html, id L02002.
Form and metre
The Clod and the Pebble is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 8% 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 ABAB pleaseA · careB · easeA · despairB
- 2 -A-A clay · feetA · brook · meetA
- 3 ABAB pleaseA · delightB · easeA · despiteB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Love seeketh not itself to please, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Nor for itself hath any care, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| But for another gives it ease, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And builds a heaven in hell's despair." | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| So sang a little clod of clay, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Trodden with the cattle's feet, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| But a pebble of the brook | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Warbled out these metres meet: | 8 | /˘˘··/˘· |
| "Love seeketh only Self to please, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To bind another to its delight, | 9 | ··˘/˘··˘/ |
| Joys in another's loss of ease, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And builds a hell in heaven's despite." | 9 | ·····/˘˘/ |
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.