Ode to Tranquillity
Tranquility! thou better nameThan all the family of Fame!Thou ne'er wilt leave my riper ageTo low intrigue, or factious rage;For oh! dear child of thoughtful Truth,To thee I gave my early youth,And left the bark, and blest the steadfast shore,Ere yet the tempest rose and scared me with its roar.
Who late and lingering seeks thy shrine,On him but seldom, Power divine,Thy spirit rests! SatietyAnd Sloth, poor counterfeits of thee,Mock the tired worldling. Idle HopeAnd dire Remembrance interlope,To vex the feverish slumbers of the mind:The bubble floats before, the spectre stalks behind.
But me thy gentle hand will leadAt morning through the accustomed mead;And in the sultry summer's heatWill build me up a mossy seat;And when the gust of Autumn crowds,And breaks the busy moonlight clouds,Thou best the thought canst raise, the heart attune,Light as the busy clouds, calm as the gliding moon.
The feeling heart, the searching soul,To thee I dedicate the whole!And while within myself I traceThe greatness of some future race,Aloof with hermit-eye I scanThe present works of present man--A wild and dream-like trade of blood and guile,Too foolish for a tear, too wicked for a smile!
Words in this poem
- worldling
- A person whose soul is set upon gaining temporal possessions; one devoted to this world and its enjoyments. [World + -ling.]
- dire a.
- Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
- interlope v. i.
- To run between parties and intercept without right the advantage that one should gain from the other; to traffic without a proper license; to intrude; to forestall others; to intermeddle. [See Interloper.]
- spectre n.
- Something preternaturally visible; an apparition; a ghost; a phantom. [F. spectre, fr. L. spectrum an appearance, image, specter, fr. specere to look. See Spy, and cf. Spectrum.]
- attune v. t.
- To tune or put in tune; to make melodious; to adjust, as one sound or musical instrument to another; as, to attune the voice to a harp. [Pref. ad- + tune.]
- scan v. t.
- To mount by steps; to go through with step by step. [L. scandere, scansum, to climb, to scan, akin to Skr. skand to spring, leap: cf. F. scander. Cf. Ascend, Descend, Scale a ladder.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ode to Tranquillity 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, Ode to Tranquillity, in Poems of Coleridge (1796–1817), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8208, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coleridge-poems/ode-to-tranquillity.html, id L00314.
Form and metre
Ode to Tranquillity is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABBCCDD, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.8 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AABBCCDD nameA · fameA · ageB · rageB · truthC · youthC · shoreD · roarD
- 2 AA--BBCC shrineA · divineA · satiety · thee · hopeB · interlopeB · mindC · behindC
- 3 AABBCCDD leadA · meadA · heatB · seatB · crowdsC · cloudsC · attuneD · moonD
- 4 AABBCCDD soulA · wholeA · traceB · raceB · scanC · manC · guileD · smileD
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Tranquility! thou better name | 8 | ˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Than all the family of Fame! | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Thou ne'er wilt leave my riper age | 8 | ········ |
| To low intrigue, or factious rage; | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| For oh! dear child of thoughtful Truth, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To thee I gave my early youth, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And left the bark, and blest the steadfast shore, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Ere yet the tempest rose and scared me with its roar. | 12 | ···/˘······· |
| Who late and lingering seeks thy shrine, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| On him but seldom, Power divine, | 8 | ···/˘/˘/ |
| Thy spirit rests! Satiety | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| And Sloth, poor counterfeits of thee, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Mock the tired worldling. Idle Hope | 8 | ··//˘/˘· |
| And dire Remembrance interlope, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| To vex the feverish slumbers of the mind: | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The bubble floats before, the spectre stalks behind. | 12 | ·/˘····/˘··· |
| But me thy gentle hand will lead | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| At morning through the accustomed mead; | 9 | ·/˘··˘/˘· |
| And in the sultry summer's heat | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Will build me up a mossy seat; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And when the gust of Autumn crowds, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And breaks the busy moonlight clouds, | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| Thou best the thought canst raise, the heart attune, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Light as the busy clouds, calm as the gliding moon. | 12 | ···/˘····/˘· |
| The feeling heart, the searching soul, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To thee I dedicate the whole! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And while within myself I trace | 8 | ·····/·· |
| The greatness of some future race, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Aloof with hermit-eye I scan | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| The present works of present man-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A wild and dream-like trade of blood and guile, | 10 | ·········· |
| Too foolish for a tear, too wicked for a smile! | 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.