An Allegory
On the wide level of a mountain's head,(I knew not where, but 'twas some faery place)Their pinions, ostrich-like, for sails outspread,Two lovely children run an endless race,A sister and a brother!This far outstript the other;Yet ever runs she with reverted face,And looks and listens for the boy behind:For he, alas! is blind!O'er rough and smooth with even step he passed,And knows not whether he be first or last.
Words in this poem
- outspread v. t.
- To spread out; to expand; -- usually as a past part. or adj.
- reverted a.
- Turned back; reversed. Specifically: (Her.) Bent or curved twice, in opposite directions, or in the form of an S.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
An Allegory 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 Allegory, in Poems of Coleridge (1796–1817), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8208, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coleridge-poems/an-allegory.html, id L00335.
Form and metre
An Allegory is 11 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCCBDDEE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.9 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 ABABCCBDDEE headA · placeB · outspreadA · raceB · brotherC · otherC · faceB · behindD · blindD · passedE · lastE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| On the wide level of a mountain's head, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| (I knew not where, but 'twas some faery place) | 10 | ·········· |
| Their pinions, ostrich-like, for sails outspread, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Two lovely children run an endless race, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| A sister and a brother! | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| This far outstript the other; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Yet ever runs she with reverted face, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| And looks and listens for the boy behind: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For he, alas! is blind! | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| O'er rough and smooth with even step he passed, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And knows not whether he be first or last. | 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.