Uncalled
As one, who, journeying westward with the sun,Beholds at length from the up-towering hills,Far-off, a land unspeakable beauty fills,Circean peaks and vales of Avalon:And, sinking weary, watches, one by one,The big seas beat between; and knows it skillsNo more to try; that now, as Heaven wills,This is the helpless end, that all is done:So 'tis with him, whom long a vision ledIn quest of Beauty; and who finds at lastShe lies beyond his effort; all the wavesOf all the world between them: while the dead,The myriad dead, who people all the pastWith failure, hail him from forgotten graves.
Words in this poem
- towering a.
- Very high; elevated; rising aloft; as, a towering height.
- myriad n.
- The number of ten thousand; ten thousand persons or things. [Gr. myriade.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Uncalled 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, Uncalled, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/uncalled.html, id L10976.
Form and metre
Uncalled is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 36% 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 ABB-ABBACDECDE sunA · hillsB · fillsB · avalon · oneA · skillsB · willsB · doneA · ledC · lastD · wavesE · deadC · pastD · gravesE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As one, who, journeying westward with the sun, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Beholds at length from the up-towering hills, | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| Far-off, a land unspeakable beauty fills, | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| Circean peaks and vales of Avalon: | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| And, sinking weary, watches, one by one, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| The big seas beat between; and knows it skills | 10 | ·········· |
| No more to try; that now, as Heaven wills, | 9 | ·······/· |
| This is the helpless end, that all is done: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| So 'tis with him, whom long a vision led | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| In quest of Beauty; and who finds at last | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| She lies beyond his effort; all the waves | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of all the world between them: while the dead, | 10 | ·········· |
| The myriad dead, who people all the past | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| With failure, hail him from forgotten graves. | 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.