Canto I
Over the great windy waters, and over the clear-crested summits,Unto the sun and the sky, and unto the perfecter earth,Come, let us go,--to a land wherein gods of the old time wandered,Where every breath even now changes to ether divine.Come, let us go; though withal a voice whisper, 'The world that we live in,Whithersoever we turn, still is the same narrow crib;'Tis but to prove limitation, and measure a cord, that we travel;Let who would 'scape and be free go to his chamber and think;'Tis but to change idle fancies for memories wilfully falser;'Tis but to go and have been.'--Come, little bark! let us go.
Words in this poem
- perfecter n.
- One who, or that which, makes perfect.
- withal adv.
- With this; with that. [With + all.]
- whithersoever adv.
- To whatever place; to what place soever; wheresoever; as, I will go whithersoever you lead. [Whither + soever.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto I is in the public domain. This text is taken from Amours De Voyage, Project Gutenberg ebook #1393; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Arthur Hugh Clough, Canto I, in Amours de Voyage (1858), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1393, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/clough-amours/canto-i.html, id L01589.
Form and metre
Canto I is 10 lines in a single stanza. 74% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 15.5 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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----- summits · earth · wandered · divineA · inA · crib · travel · think · falser · go
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Over the great windy waters, and over the clear-crested summits, | 17 | ····/˘/˘·····/˘/˘ |
| Unto the sun and the sky, and unto the perfecter earth, | 15 | ···········/˘˘· |
| Come, let us go,--to a land wherein gods of the old time wandered, | 16 | ··············/˘ |
| Where every breath even now changes to ether divine. | 15 | ·/˘˘·/˘·/˘·/˘˘/ |
| Come, let us go; though withal a voice whisper, 'The world that we live in, | 17 | ·····˘/··/˘······ |
| Whithersoever we turn, still is the same narrow crib; | 13 | ··········/˘· |
| 'Tis but to prove limitation, and measure a cord, that we travel; | 17 | ·····˘/˘·/˘····/˘ |
| Let who would 'scape and be free go to his chamber and think; | 14 | ··········/˘·· |
| 'Tis but to change idle fancies for memories wilfully falser; | 17 | ····/˘/˘·/˘˘/˘˘/˘ |
| 'Tis but to go and have been.'--Come, little bark! let us go. | 14 | ········/˘···· |
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.