Apocalypse
Before I found her I had foundWithin my heart, as in a brook,Reflections of her: now a soundOf imaged beauty; now a look.
So when I found her, gazing inThose Bibles of her eyes, aboveAll earth, I read no word of sin;Their holy chapters all were love.
I read them through. I read and sawThe soul impatient of the sod--Her soul, that through her eyes did drawMine--to the higher love of God.
About this text
Apocalypse is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #7796; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Madison Julius Cawein, Apocalypse, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/apocalypse.html, id L10845.
Form and metre
Apocalypse is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 50% 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 foundA · brookB · soundA · lookB
- 2 ABAB inA · aboveB · sinA · loveB
- 3 ABAB sawA · sodB · drawA · godB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Before I found her I had found | 8 | ········ |
| Within my heart, as in a brook, | 8 | ········ |
| Reflections of her: now a sound | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Of imaged beauty; now a look. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| So when I found her, gazing in | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Those Bibles of her eyes, above | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| All earth, I read no word of sin; | 8 | ········ |
| Their holy chapters all were love. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| I read them through. I read and saw | 8 | ········ |
| The soul impatient of the sod-- | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Her soul, that through her eyes did draw | 8 | ········ |
| Mine--to the higher love of God. | 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.