The Pacific, 1914
Not with vain tears, when we're beyond the sun,We'll beat on the substantial doors, nor treadThose dusty high-roads of the aimless deadPlaintive for Earth; but rather turn and runDown some close-covered by-way of the air,Some low sweet alley between wind and wind,Stoop under faint gleams, thread the shadows, findSome whispering ghost-forgotten nook, and there
Spend in pure converse our eternal day;Think each in each, immediately wise;Learn all we lacked before; hear, know, and sayWhat this tumultuous body now denies;And feel, who have laid our groping hands away;And see, no longer blinded by our eyes.
Words in this poem
- aimless a.
- Without aim or purpose; as, an aimless life.
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- nook n.
- A narrow place formed by an angle in bodies or between bodies; a corner; a recess; a secluded retreat. [OE. nok; cf. Gael. & Ir. niuc.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Pacific, 1914 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, The Pacific, 1914, in 1914 and Other Poems (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #33902, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/brooke-1914/the-pacific-1914.html, id L04742.
Form and metre
The Pacific, 1914 is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 43% 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 ABBACDDC sunA · treadB · deadB · runA · airC · windD · findD · thereC
- 2 ABABAB dayA · wiseB · sayA · deniesB · awayA · eyesB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Not with vain tears, when we're beyond the sun, | 10 | ·········· |
| We'll beat on the substantial doors, nor tread | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Those dusty high-roads of the aimless dead | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Plaintive for Earth; but rather turn and run | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Down some close-covered by-way of the air, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Some low sweet alley between wind and wind, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Stoop under faint gleams, thread the shadows, find | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Some whispering ghost-forgotten nook, and there | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Spend in pure converse our eternal day; | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Think each in each, immediately wise; | 10 | ····˘/˘˘˘· |
| Learn all we lacked before; hear, know, and say | 10 | ·········· |
| What this tumultuous body now denies; | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And feel, who have laid our groping hands away; | 11 | ·····//˘·˘/ |
| And see, no longer blinded by our eyes. | 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.