The Mirror of Madmen
I dreamed a dream of heaven, white as frost,The splendid stillness of a living host;Vast choirs of upturned faces, line o'er line.Then my blood froze; for every face was mine.
Spirits with sunset plumage throng and pass,Glassed darkly in the sea of gold and glass.But still on every side, in every spot,I saw a million selves, who saw me not.
I fled to quiet wastes, where on a stone,Perchance, I found a saint, who sat alone;I came behind: he turned with slow, sweet grace,And faced me with my happy, hateful face.
I cowered like one that in a tower doth bide,Shut in by mirrors upon every side;Then I saw, islanded in skies aloneAnd silent, one that sat upon a throne.
His robe was bordered with rich rose and gold,Green, purple, silver out of sunsets old;But o'er his face a great cloud edged with fire,Because it covereth the world's desire.
But as I gazed, a silent worshipper,Methought the cloud began to faintly stir;Then I fell flat, and screamed with grovelling head,'If thou hast any lightning, strike me dead!
'But spare a brow where the clean sunlight fell,The crown of a new sin that sickens hell.Let me not look aloft and see mine ownFeature and form upon the Judgment-throne.'
Then my dream snapped: and with a heart that leaptI saw across the tavern where I slept,The sight of all my life most full of grace,A gin-damned drunkard's wan half-witted face.
Words in this poem
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- hateful a.
- Manifesting hate or hatred; malignant; malevolent.
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Mirror of Madmen 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, The Mirror of Madmen, in The Wild Knight and Other Poems (1900), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12037, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/chesterton-wild-knight/the-mirror-of-madmen.html, id L17149.
Form and metre
The Mirror of Madmen is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 6 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 9% 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 --AA frost · host · lineA · mineA
- 2 AABB passA · glassA · spotB · notB
- 3 AABB stoneA · aloneA · graceB · faceB
- 4 AABB bideA · sideA · aloneB · throneB
- 5 AABB goldA · oldA · fireB · desireB
- 6 --AA worshipper · stir · headA · deadA
- 7 AABB fellA · hellA · ownB · throneB
- 8 AABB leaptA · sleptA · graceB · faceB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I dreamed a dream of heaven, white as frost, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The splendid stillness of a living host; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Vast choirs of upturned faces, line o'er line. | 10 | ···˘//˘··· |
| Then my blood froze; for every face was mine. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Spirits with sunset plumage throng and pass, | 10 | /˘·/·/˘··· |
| Glassed darkly in the sea of gold and glass. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But still on every side, in every spot, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| I saw a million selves, who saw me not. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I fled to quiet wastes, where on a stone, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Perchance, I found a saint, who sat alone; | 10 | ˘/······˘/ |
| I came behind: he turned with slow, sweet grace, | 10 | ·········· |
| And faced me with my happy, hateful face. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| I cowered like one that in a tower doth bide, | 10 | ·/·····/·· |
| Shut in by mirrors upon every side; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Then I saw, islanded in skies alone | 10 | ···/˘˘··˘/ |
| And silent, one that sat upon a throne. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| His robe was bordered with rich rose and gold, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Green, purple, silver out of sunsets old; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/·· |
| But o'er his face a great cloud edged with fire, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Because it covereth the world's desire. | 11 | ···/˘˘··˘/˘ |
| But as I gazed, a silent worshipper, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Methought the cloud began to faintly stir; | 10 | ˘/··˘/·/˘· |
| Then I fell flat, and screamed with grovelling head, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| 'If thou hast any lightning, strike me dead! | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| 'But spare a brow where the clean sunlight fell, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| The crown of a new sin that sickens hell. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Let me not look aloft and see mine own | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Feature and form upon the Judgment-throne.' | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Then my dream snapped: and with a heart that leapt | 10 | ·········· |
| I saw across the tavern where I slept, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| The sight of all my life most full of grace, | 10 | ·········· |
| A gin-damned drunkard's wan half-witted face. | 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.