Problems
Man's are the learnings of his books--What is all knowledge that he knowsBeside the wit of winding brooks,The wisdom of the summer rose!
How soil distills the scent in flowersBaffles his science: heaven-dyed,How, from the palette of His hours,God gives them colors, hath defied.
What dream of heaven begets the light?Or, ere the stars beat burning tunes,Stains all the hollow edge of nightWith glory as of molten moons?
Who is it answers what is birthOr death, that nothing may retard?Or what is love, that seems of Earth,Yet wears God's own divine regard?
Words in this poem
- palette n.
- A thin, oval or square board, or tablet, with a thumb hole at one end for holding it, on which a painter lays and mixes his pigments. [See Pallet a thin board.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Problems 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, Problems, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/problems.html, id L10889.
Form and metre
Problems is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% 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 booksA · knowsB · brooksA · roseB
- 2 ABAB flowersA · dyedB · hoursA · defiedB
- 3 ABAB lightA · tunesB · nightA · moonsB
- 4 ABAB birthA · retardB · earthA · regardB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Man's are the learnings of his books-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| What is all knowledge that he knows | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Beside the wit of winding brooks, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| The wisdom of the summer rose! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| How soil distills the scent in flowers | 9 | ··˘/···/˘ |
| Baffles his science: heaven-dyed, | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| How, from the palette of His hours, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| God gives them colors, hath defied. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| What dream of heaven begets the light? | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| Or, ere the stars beat burning tunes, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Stains all the hollow edge of night | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With glory as of molten moons? | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Who is it answers what is birth | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or death, that nothing may retard? | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Or what is love, that seems of Earth, | 8 | ········ |
| Yet wears God's own divine regard? | 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.