An Allegoric Romance
Like a lone Arab, old and blind,Some caravan had left behind,Who sits beside a ruin'd well,Where the shy sand-asps bask and swell;And now he hangs his aged head aslant,And listens for a human sound--in vain!And now the aid, which Heaven alone can grant,Upturns his eyeless face from Heaven to gain;--Even thus, in vacant mood, one sultry hour,Resting my eye upon a drooping plant,With brow low-bent, within my garden-bower,I sate upon the couch of camomile;And--whether 'twas a transient sleep, perchance,Flitted across the idle brain, the whileI watch'd the sickly calm with aimless scope,In my own heart; or that, indeed a trance,Turn'd my eye inward--thee, O genial Hope,Love's elder sister! thee did I behold,Drest as a bridesmaid, but all pale and cold,With roseless cheek, all pale and cold and dim,Lie lifeless at my feet!And then came Love, a sylph in bridal trim,And stood beside my seat;She bent, and kiss'd her sister's lips,As she was wont to do;--Alas! 'twas but a chilling breathWoke just enough of life in deathTo make Hope die anew.
Words in this poem
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- bask v. i.
- To lie in warmth; to be exposed to genial heat. [OScand. ba to bathe one's self, or perh. bakask to bake one's self, sk being reflexive. See Bath, n., Bake, v. t.]
- aslant adv.
- Toward one side; in a slanting direction; obliquely. [Pref. a- + slant.]
- eyeless a.
- Without eyes; blind.
- sate v. t.
- To satisfy the desire or appetite of; to satiate; to glut; to surfeit. [Probably shortened fr. satiate: cf. L. satus full. See Satiate.]
- aimless a.
- Without aim or purpose; as, an aimless life.
- genial a.
- Contributing to, or concerned in, propagation or production; generative; procreative; productive. [L. genialis: cf. OF. genial. See Genius.]
- bridesmaid n.
- A female friend who attends on a bride at her wedding.
- sylph n.
- An imaginary being inhabiting the air; a fairy.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
An Allegoric Romance is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Coleridge, Project Gutenberg ebook #8208; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, An Allegoric Romance, in Poems of Coleridge (1796–1817), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8208, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coleridge-poems/an-allegoric-romance.html, id L00336.
Form and metre
An Allegoric Romance is 28 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.0 syllables. 11% 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 AABBCDCDECE-F-GFGHHIJIJ-KLLK blindA · behindA · wellB · swellB · aslantC · vainD · grantC · gainD · hourE · plantC · bowerE · camomile · perchanceF · while · scopeG · tranceF · hopeG · beholdH · coldH · dimI · feetJ · trimI · seatJ · lips · doK · breathL · deathL · anewK
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Like a lone Arab, old and blind, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Some caravan had left behind, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Who sits beside a ruin'd well, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Where the shy sand-asps bask and swell; | 8 | ········ |
| And now he hangs his aged head aslant, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| And listens for a human sound--in vain! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And now the aid, which Heaven alone can grant, | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| Upturns his eyeless face from Heaven to gain;-- | 10 | /··/˘··/·· |
| Even thus, in vacant mood, one sultry hour, | 11 | /··/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Resting my eye upon a drooping plant, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| With brow low-bent, within my garden-bower, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| I sate upon the couch of camomile; | 11 | ··········· |
| And--whether 'twas a transient sleep, perchance, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Flitted across the idle brain, the while | 10 | /˘˘/·/˘··· |
| I watch'd the sickly calm with aimless scope, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| In my own heart; or that, indeed a trance, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Turn'd my eye inward--thee, O genial Hope, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Love's elder sister! thee did I behold, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Drest as a bridesmaid, but all pale and cold, | 10 | ···/······ |
| With roseless cheek, all pale and cold and dim, | 11 | ··········· |
| Lie lifeless at my feet! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And then came Love, a sylph in bridal trim, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And stood beside my seat; | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| She bent, and kiss'd her sister's lips, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| As she was wont to do;-- | 6 | ······ |
| Alas! 'twas but a chilling breath | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Woke just enough of life in death | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| To make Hope die anew. | 6 | ····˘/ |
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.