Poet
I note the moods and feelings men betray,And heed them more than aught they do or say;The lingering ghosts of many a secret deedStill-born or haply strangled in its birth;These best reveal the smooth man's inward creed!These mark the spot where lies the treasure Worth!
Butler made up of impudence and trick,With cloven tongue prepared to hiss and lick,Rome's brazen serpent--boldly dares discussThe roasting of thy heart, O brave John Huss!And with grim triumph and a truculent gleeAbsolves anew the Pope-wrought perfidy,That made an empire's plighted faith a lie,And fix'd a broad stare on the Devil's eye--(Pleased with the guilt, yet envy-stung at heartTo stand outmaster'd in his own black art!)Yet Butler-
Enough of Butler! we're agreed,Who now defends would then have done the deed.But who not feels persuasion's gentle sway,Who but must meet the proffer'd hand half wayWhen courteous Butler--
Laments the advice that sour'd a milky queen--(For "bloody" all enlighten'd men confessAn antiquated error of the press:)Who, rapt by zeal beyond her sex's bounds,With actual cautery staunch'd the Church's wounds!And tho' he deems, that with too broad a blurWe damn the French and Irish massacre,Yet blames them both--and thinks the Pope might err!What think you now? Boots it with spear and shieldAgainst such gentle foes to take the fieldWhose beckoning hands the mild Caduceus wield?
What think I now? Even what I thought before;--What Butler boasts though Butler may deplore,Still I repeat, words lead me not astrayWhen the shown feeling points a different way.Smooth Butler can say grace at slander's feast,And bless each haut-gout cook'd by monk or priest;Leaves the full lie on Butler's gong to swell,Content with half-truths that do just as well;But duly decks his mitred comrade's flanks,And with him shares the Irish nation's thanks!
So much for you, my friend! who own a Church,And would not leave your mother in the lurch!But when a Liberal asks me what I think--Scared by the blood and soot of Cobbett's ink,And Jeffrey's glairy phlegm and Connor's foam,In search of some safe parable I roam--An emblem sometimes may comprise a tome!
Disclaimant of his uncaught grandsire's mood,I see a tiger lapping kitten's food:And who shall blame him that he purs applause,When brother Brindle pleads the good old cause;And frisks his pretty tail, and half unsheathes his claws!Yet not the less, for modern lights unapt,I trust the bolts and cross-bars of the lawsMore than the Protestant milk all newly lapt,Impearling a tame wild-cat's whisker'd jaws!
Words in this poem 18
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- haply adv.
- By hap, chance, luck, or accident; perhaps; it may be.
- discuss v. t.
- To break to pieces; to shatter. Sir T. Browne. [L. discussus, p. p. of discutere to strike asunder (hence came the sense to separate mentally, distinguish); dis- + quatere to shake, strike. See Quash.]
- truculent a.
- Fierce; savage; ferocious; barbarous; as, the truculent inhabitants of Scythia. Ray. [L.truculentus, fr. trux, gen. trucis, wild, fierce: cf. F. truculent.]
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- perfidy n.
- The act of violating faith or allegiance; violation of a promise or vow, or of trust reposed; faithlessness; teachery. [L. perfidia, fr. L. perfidus faithless; per (cf. Skr. para away) + fides faith: cf. F. perfidie. See Faith.]
- rapt n.
- An ecstasy; a trance. Bp. Morton. [From F. rapt abduction, rape, L. raptus, fr. rapere to seize and carry off, to transport; or fr. E. rapt, a. See Rapt, a., and Rapid.]
- damn v. t.
- To condemn; to declare guilty; to doom; to adjudge to punishment; to sentence; to censhure. [OE. damnen dap), OF. damner, dampner, F. damner, fr. L. damnare, damnatum, to condemn, fr. damnum damage, a fine, penalty. Cf. Condemn, Damage.]
- massacre n.
- The killing of a considerable number of human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty, or contrary to the usages of civilized people; as, the massacre on St. Bartholomew's Day. [F., fr. LL. mazacrium; cf. Prov. G. metzgern, metzgen, to kill cattle, G. metzger a butcher, and LG. matsken to cut, hew, OHG. meizan to cut, Goth. máitan.]
- wield v. t.
- To govern; to rule; to keep, or have in charge; also, to possess. [OE. welden to govern, to have power over, to possess, AS. geweldan, gewyldan, from wealdan; akin to OS. waldan, OFries. walda, G. walten, OHG. waltan, Icel. val]
- deplore v. t.
- To feel or to express deep and poignant grief for; to bewail; to lament; to mourn; to sorrow over. [L. deplorare; de- + plorare to cry out, wail, lament; prob. akin to pluere to rain, and to E. flow: cf. F. déplorer. Cf. Flow.]
- gong n.
- A privy or jakes. Chaucer. Gong farmer, Gong man, a cleaner of privies. [AS. gong, gang, a going, passage, drain. See Gang.]
- lurch v. t.
- To leave in the lurch; to cheat.
- glairy a.
- Like glair, or partaking of its qualities; covered with glair; viscous and transparent; slimy. Wiseman.
- comprise v. t.
- To comprehend; to include. [From F. compris, comprise, p. p. of comprendre, L. comprehendere. See Comprehend.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- brindle n.
- The state of being brindled. [See Brindled.]
- unapt a.
- Inapt; slow; dull.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poet 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, Poet, in Poems of Coleridge (1796–1817), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8208, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coleridge-poems/poet.html, id L18504.
Form and metre
Poet is 59 lines in 7 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 64% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% 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 AABCBC betrayA · sayA · deedB · birthC · creedB · worthC
- 2 AABBC-CCDD- trickA · lickA · discussB · hussB · gleeC · perfidy · lieC · eyeC · heartD · artD · butler
- 3 AABB- agreedA · deedA · swayB · wayB · butler
- 4 -AA--B-BCCC queen · confessA · pressA · bounds · wounds · blurB · massacre · errB · shieldC · fieldC · wieldC
- 5 AABBCCDDEE beforeA · deploreA · astrayB · wayB · feastC · priestC · swellD · wellD · flanksE · thanksE
- 6 AABBCCC churchA · lurchA · thinkB · inkB · foamC · roamC · tomeC
- 7 AABBBCBCB moodA · foodA · applauseB · causeB · clawsB · unaptC · lawsB · laptC · jawsB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I note the moods and feelings men betray, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And heed them more than aught they do or say; | 10 | ·········· |
| The lingering ghosts of many a secret deed | 10 | ·/˘··/·/˘· |
| Still-born or haply strangled in its birth; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| These best reveal the smooth man's inward creed! | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| These mark the spot where lies the treasure Worth! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Butler made up of impudence and trick, | 10 | /˘···/˘˘·· |
| With cloven tongue prepared to hiss and lick, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| Rome's brazen serpent--boldly dares discuss | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The roasting of thy heart, O brave John Huss! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And with grim triumph and a truculent glee | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Absolves anew the Pope-wrought perfidy, | 9 | ˘/˘/···/˘ |
| That made an empire's plighted faith a lie, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And fix'd a broad stare on the Devil's eye-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| (Pleased with the guilt, yet envy-stung at heart | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To stand outmaster'd in his own black art!) | 10 | ·········· |
| Yet Butler- | 3 | ·/˘ |
| Enough of Butler! we're agreed, | 8 | ˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| Who now defends would then have done the deed. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| But who not feels persuasion's gentle sway, | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| Who but must meet the proffer'd hand half way | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| When courteous Butler-- | 6 | ·/˘˘/˘ |
| Laments the advice that sour'd a milky queen-- | 11 | ˘/·˘/·/·/˘· |
| (For "bloody" all enlighten'd men confess | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| An antiquated error of the press:) | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Who, rapt by zeal beyond her sex's bounds, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With actual cautery staunch'd the Church's wounds! | 11 | ·/˘/˘˘··/˘· |
| And tho' he deems, that with too broad a blur | 10 | ·········· |
| We damn the French and Irish massacre, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Yet blames them both--and thinks the Pope might err! | 10 | ·········· |
| What think you now? Boots it with spear and shield | 10 | ·········· |
| Against such gentle foes to take the field | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Whose beckoning hands the mild Caduceus wield? | 11 | ·/˘···˘/˘˘· |
| What think I now? Even what I thought before;-- | 10 | ····/····· |
| What Butler boasts though Butler may deplore, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Still I repeat, words lead me not astray | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| When the shown feeling points a different way. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Smooth Butler can say grace at slander's feast, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And bless each haut-gout cook'd by monk or priest; | 10 | ·········· |
| Leaves the full lie on Butler's gong to swell, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Content with half-truths that do just as well; | 10 | /˘········ |
| But duly decks his mitred comrade's flanks, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/·· |
| And with him shares the Irish nation's thanks! | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| So much for you, my friend! who own a Church, | 10 | ·········· |
| And would not leave your mother in the lurch! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But when a Liberal asks me what I think-- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Scared by the blood and soot of Cobbett's ink, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And Jeffrey's glairy phlegm and Connor's foam, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| In search of some safe parable I roam-- | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| An emblem sometimes may comprise a tome! | 10 | ·/˘/··˘/·· |
| Disclaimant of his uncaught grandsire's mood, | 10 | ·········· |
| I see a tiger lapping kitten's food: | 9 | ···//˘/˘· |
| And who shall blame him that he purs applause, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| When brother Brindle pleads the good old cause; | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And frisks his pretty tail, and half unsheathes his claws! | 12 | ···/˘······· |
| Yet not the less, for modern lights unapt, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| I trust the bolts and cross-bars of the laws | 10 | ·········· |
| More than the Protestant milk all newly lapt, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Impearling a tame wild-cat's whisker'd jaws! | 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.