The Devil's Thoughts
From his brimstone bed at break of dayA walking the DEVIL is gone,To visit his little snug farm of the earthAnd see how his stock went on.
Over the hill and over the dale,And he went over the plain,And backward and forward he swished his long tailAs a gentleman swishes his cane.
And how then was the Devil drest?Oh! he was in his Sunday's best:His jacket was red and his breeches were blue,And there was a hole where the tail came through.
He saw a LAWYER killing a ViperOn a dung heap beside his stable,And the Devil smiled, for it put him in mindOf Cain and his brother, Abel.
A POTHECARY on a white horseRode by on his vocations,And the Devil thought of his old FriendDEATH in the Revelations.
He saw a cottage with a double coach-house,A cottage of gentility!And the Devil did grin, for his darling sinIs pride that apes humility.
He went into a rich bookseller's shop,Quoth he! we are both of one college,For I myself sate like a cormorant onceFast by the tree of knowledge.
Down the river there plied, with wind and tide,A pig with vast celerity;And the Devil look'd wise as he saw how the while,It cut its own throat. "There!" quoth he with a smile,"Goes 'England's commercial prosperity.'"
As he went through Cold-Bath Fields he sawA solitary cell;And the Devil was pleased, for it gave him a hintFor improving his prisons in Hell.
General ----------- burning faceHe saw with consternation,And back to hell his way did he take,For the Devil thought by a slight mistakeIt was general conflagration.
Words in this poem
- brimstone n.
- Sulphur; See Sulphur. [OE. brimston, bremston, bernston, brenston; cf. Icel. brennistein. See Burn, v. t., and Stone.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- rode n.
- Redness; complexion. [See Rud.]
- gentility n.
- Good extraction; dignity of birth. [L. gentilitas the relationship of those who belong to the same clan, also, heathenism: cf. F. gentilité heathenism. See Gentile.]
- grin n.
- A snare; a gin. [AS. grin.]
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- 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.]
- consternation n.
- Amazement or horror that confounds the faculties, and incapacitates for refletion; terror, combined with amaxement; dismay. [L. consternatio, fr. consternare to overome, perplex, an accessory form of consternere to trow down, prostrate; con + sternere to spread out, throw down: cf. F.]
- conflagration n.
- A fire extending to many objects, or over a large space; a general burning.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Devil's Thoughts 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, The Devil's Thoughts, in Poems of Coleridge (1796–1817), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8208, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coleridge-poems/the-devil-s-thoughts.html, id L00378.
Form and metre
The Devil's Thoughts is 42 lines in 10 stanzas. The metre is common measure, as Wikipedia: The Devil's Thoughts has it. 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.8 syllables. 12 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 31% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 -A-A day · goneA · earth · onA
- 2 ABAB daleA · plainB · tailA · caneB
- 3 AABB drestA · bestA · blueB · throughB
- 4 -A-A viper · stableA · mind · abelA
- 5 -A-A horse · vocationsA · friend · revelationsA
- 6 -A-A house · gentilityA · sin · humilityA
- 7 -A-A shop · collegeA · once · knowledgeA
- 8 -ABBA tide · celerityA · whileB · smileB · prosperityA
- 9 -A-A saw · cellA · hint · hellA
- 10 -ABBA face · consternationA · takeB · mistakeB · conflagrationA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| From his brimstone bed at break of day | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| A walking the DEVIL is gone, | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| To visit his little snug farm of the earth | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| And see how his stock went on. | 7 | ······· |
| Over the hill and over the dale, | 8 | ········ |
| And he went over the plain, | 7 | ······· |
| And backward and forward he swished his long tail | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| As a gentleman swishes his cane. | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| And how then was the Devil drest? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Oh! he was in his Sunday's best: | 8 | ·····/·· |
| His jacket was red and his breeches were blue, | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| And there was a hole where the tail came through. | 10 | ·········· |
| He saw a LAWYER killing a Viper | 9 | ···/˘/˘·/ |
| On a dung heap beside his stable, | 9 | ····˘/·/˘ |
| And the Devil smiled, for it put him in mind | 10 | ··/······· |
| Of Cain and his brother, Abel. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| A POTHECARY on a white horse | 9 | ·/˘˘˘···· |
| Rode by on his vocations, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| And the Devil thought of his old Friend | 8 | ··/····· |
| DEATH in the Revelations. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| He saw a cottage with a double coach-house, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·· |
| A cottage of gentility! | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| And the Devil did grin, for his darling sin | 10 | ··/····/˘· |
| Is pride that apes humility. | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| He went into a rich bookseller's shop, | 10 | ······/·˘· |
| Quoth he! we are both of one college, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| For I myself sate like a cormorant once | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Fast by the tree of knowledge. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Down the river there plied, with wind and tide, | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| A pig with vast celerity; | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| And the Devil look'd wise as he saw how the while, | 11 | ··/········ |
| It cut its own throat. "There!" quoth he with a smile, | 11 | ··········· |
| "Goes 'England's commercial prosperity.'" | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘˘/˘ |
| As he went through Cold-Bath Fields he saw | 9 | ········· |
| A solitary cell; | 6 | ·/˘·˘· |
| And the Devil was pleased, for it gave him a hint | 11 | ··/········ |
| For improving his prisons in Hell. | 9 | ·˘/˘·/˘·· |
| General ----------- burning face | 6 | /˘˘/˘· |
| He saw with consternation, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| And back to hell his way did he take, | 9 | ········· |
| For the Devil thought by a slight mistake | 9 | ··/····˘/ |
| It was general conflagration. | 9 | ··/˘˘·˘/˘ |
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.