Clouds
Down the blue night the unending columns pressIn noiseless tumult, break and wave and flow,Now tread the far South, or lift rounds of snowUp to the white moon's hidden loveliness.Some pause in their grave wandering comradeless,And turn with profound gesture vague and slow,As who would pray good for the world, but knowTheir benediction empty as they bless.
They say that the Dead die not, but remainNear to the rich heirs of their grief and mirth.I think they ride the calm mid-heaven, as these,In wise majestic melancholy train,And watch the moon, and the still-raging seas,And men, coming and going on the earth.
Words in this poem
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Clouds is in the public domain. This text is taken from 1914, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #33902; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Rupert Brooke, Clouds, in 1914 and Other Poems (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #33902, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/brooke-1914/clouds.html, id L04743.
Form and metre
Clouds is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% 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 ABBAABBA pressA · flowB · snowB · lovelinessA · comradelessA · slowB · knowB · blessA
- 2 ABCACB remainA · mirthB · theseC · trainA · seasC · earthB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Down the blue night the unending columns press | 11 | ·····˘/˘/˘· |
| In noiseless tumult, break and wave and flow, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Now tread the far South, or lift rounds of snow | 10 | ·········· |
| Up to the white moon's hidden loveliness. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Some pause in their grave wandering comradeless, | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| And turn with profound gesture vague and slow, | 10 | ···˘//˘··· |
| As who would pray good for the world, but know | 10 | ·········· |
| Their benediction empty as they bless. | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| They say that the Dead die not, but remain | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Near to the rich heirs of their grief and mirth. | 10 | ·········· |
| I think they ride the calm mid-heaven, as these, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| In wise majestic melancholy train, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘·˘· |
| And watch the moon, and the still-raging seas, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And men, coming and going on the earth. | 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.