Ecclesiastes
There is one sin: to call a green leaf grey,Whereat the sun in heaven shuddereth.There is one blasphemy: for death to pray,For God alone knoweth the praise of death.
There is one creed: 'neath no world-terror's wingApples forget to grow on apple-trees.There is one thing is needful--everything--The rest is vanity of vanities.
Words in this poem
- whereat adv.
- At which; upon which; whereupon; -- used relatively.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ecclesiastes is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Wild Knight and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #12037; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: G. K. Chesterton, Ecclesiastes, in The Wild Knight and Other Poems (1900), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12037, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/chesterton-wild-knight/ecclesiastes.html, id L17127.
Form and metre
Ecclesiastes is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%). 80% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% 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 ABAB greyA · shudderethB · prayA · deathB
- 2 ABAB wingA · treesB · everythingA · vanitiesB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There is one sin: to call a green leaf grey, | 10 | ·········· |
| Whereat the sun in heaven shuddereth. | 10 | ˘/···/˘/˘˘ |
| There is one blasphemy: for death to pray, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| For God alone knoweth the praise of death. | 10 | ··˘//˘···· |
| There is one creed: 'neath no world-terror's wing | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Apples forget to grow on apple-trees. | 10 | /˘˘/···/˘· |
| There is one thing is needful--everything-- | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| The rest is vanity of vanities. | 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.