The Old Stoic
Riches I hold in light esteem,And Love I laugh to scorn;And lust of fame was but a dream,That vanished with the morn:
And if I pray, the only prayerThat moves my lips for meIs, "Leave the heart that now I bear,And give me liberty!"
Yes, as my swift days near their goal:'Tis all that I implore;In life and death a chainless soul,With courage to endure.
Words in this poem
- lust v. i.
- To list; to like. [AS. lystan. See Lust, n., and cf. List to choose.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- chainless a.
- Having no chain; not restrained or fettered.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Old Stoic is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, Project Gutenberg ebook #1019; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, The Old Stoic, in Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (1846), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1019, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bronte-poems/the-old-stoic.html, id L13250.
Form and metre
The Old Stoic is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 esteemA · scornB · dreamA · mornB
- 2 A-A- prayerA · me · bearA · liberty
- 3 A-A- goalA · implore · soulA · endure
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Riches I hold in light esteem, | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| And Love I laugh to scorn; | 6 | ······ |
| And lust of fame was but a dream, | 8 | ········ |
| That vanished with the morn: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And if I pray, the only prayer | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That moves my lips for me | 6 | ······ |
| Is, "Leave the heart that now I bear, | 8 | ········ |
| And give me liberty!" | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Yes, as my swift days near their goal: | 8 | ········ |
| 'Tis all that I implore; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| In life and death a chainless soul, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With courage to endure. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
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.