Limbo
Tis a strange place, this Limbo!--not a Place,Yet name it so;--where Time and weary SpaceFettered from flight, with night-mare sense of fleeing,Strive for their last crepuscular half-being;--Lank Space, and scytheless Time with branny handsBarren and soundless as the measuring sands,Not mark'd by flit of Shades,--unmeaning theyAs moonlight on the dial of the day!But that is lovely--looks like human Time,--An old man with a steady look sublime,That stops his earthly task to watch the skies;But he is blind--a statue hath such eyes;--Yet having moonward turn'd his face by chance,Gazes the orb with moon-like countenance,With scant white hairs, with fore top bald and high,He gazes still,--his eyeless face all eye;--As 'twere an organ full of silent sight,His whole face seemeth to rejoice in light!Lip touching lip, all moveless, bust and limb--He seems to gaze at that which seems to gaze on him!No such sweet sights doth Limbo den immure,Wall'd round, and made a spirit-jail secure,By the mere horror of blank Naught-at-all,Whose circumambience doth these ghosts enthral.A lurid thought is growthless, dull Privation,Yet that is but a Purgatory curse;Hell knows a fear far worse,A fear--a future state;--'tis positive Negation!
Words in this poem
- limbo n.
- An extramundane region where certain classes of souls were supposed to await the judgment. [L. limbus border, edge in limbo on the border. Cf. Limb border.]
- fettered a.
- Seeming as if fettered, as the feet pf certain animals which bend backward, and appear unfit for walking.
- crepuscular a.
- Pertaining to twilight; glimmering; hence, imperfectly clear or luminous. [Cf. F. cr.]
- branny a.
- Having the appearance of bran; consisting of or containing bran. Wiseman.
- soundless a.
- Not capable of being sounded or fathomed; unfathomable.
- flit a.
- Nimble; quick; swift. See Fleet.
- eyeless a.
- Without eyes; blind.
- moveless a.
- Motionless; fixed.
- immure v. t.
- To wall around; to surround with walls. Sandys. [Pref. im- in + mure: cf. F. emmurer.]
- lurid a.
- Pale yellow; ghastly pale; wan; gloomy; dismal. [L. luridus.]
- purgatory a.
- Tending to cleanse; cleansing; expiatory. Burke. [L. purgatorius.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Limbo 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, Limbo, in Poems of Coleridge (1796–1817), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8208, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coleridge-poems/limbo.html, id L00383.
Form and metre
Limbo is 28 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 86% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 11% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMNNM placeA · spaceA · fleeingB · beingB · handsC · sandsC · theyD · dayD · timeE · sublimeE · skiesF · eyesF · chanceG · countenanceG · highH · eyeH · sightI · lightI · limbJ · himJ · immureK · secureK · allL · enthralL · privationM · curseN · worseN · negationM
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tis a strange place, this Limbo!--not a Place, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Yet name it so;--where Time and weary Space | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Fettered from flight, with night-mare sense of fleeing, | 11 | /˘·······/˘ |
| Strive for their last crepuscular half-being;-- | 10 | ·········/ |
| Lank Space, and scytheless Time with branny hands | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Barren and soundless as the measuring sands, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Not mark'd by flit of Shades,--unmeaning they | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| As moonlight on the dial of the day! | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| But that is lovely--looks like human Time,-- | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| An old man with a steady look sublime, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| That stops his earthly task to watch the skies; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But he is blind--a statue hath such eyes;-- | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Yet having moonward turn'd his face by chance, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Gazes the orb with moon-like countenance, | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| With scant white hairs, with fore top bald and high, | 10 | ·········· |
| He gazes still,--his eyeless face all eye;-- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| As 'twere an organ full of silent sight, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| His whole face seemeth to rejoice in light! | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Lip touching lip, all moveless, bust and limb-- | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| He seems to gaze at that which seems to gaze on him! | 12 | ············ |
| No such sweet sights doth Limbo den immure, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Wall'd round, and made a spirit-jail secure, | 9 | ·····/·˘/ |
| By the mere horror of blank Naught-at-all, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Whose circumambience doth these ghosts enthral. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| A lurid thought is growthless, dull Privation, | 11 | ·/˘·····˘/˘ |
| Yet that is but a Purgatory curse; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘· |
| Hell knows a fear far worse, | 6 | ······ |
| A fear--a future state;--'tis positive Negation! | 12 | ···/˘··/˘˘/˘ |
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.