Life
MORE life we thirst for, but how can we take?We sit like children by the surging sea,Dip with our shallow shells all day, and makeA boast of the scant measure, two or threeBrief drops caught from the immensity;But what are these the long day’s thirst to slake?
There is the sea, which would not be less full,Though all the lands should borrow of its flood;The sea of Life, fed by the beautifulAbounding river of the smile of God,Source of supply and fountain of all good,Boundless and free and inexhaustible.
There is the sea; and close by is our thirst,Yet here we sit and gaze the waters o’er,And dip our shallow shells in as at first.Just where the ripples break to wash the shore,And catch a tantalizing drop, nor durstThe depth or distance of the wave explore.
Ah, mighty ocean which we sport beside,One day thy wave will rise and foam, and we,Lost in its strong, outgoing, refluent tide,Shall be swept out into the deeper sea,Shall drink the life of life, and satisfiedSmile at the shore from far eternity.
Words in this poem
- immensity n.
- The state or quality of being immense; inlimited or immeasurable extension; infinity; vastness in extent or bulk; greatness. [L. immensitas: cf. F. immensité.]
- borrow v. t.
- To receive from another as a loan, with the implied or expressed intention of returning the identical article or its equivalent in kind; -- the opposite of lend. [OE. borwen, AS. borgian, fr. borg, borh, pledge; akin to D. borg, G. borg; prob. fr. root of AS. beorgan to protect. Borough.]
- explore v. t.
- To seek for or after; to strive to attain by search; to look wisely and carefully for. [L. explorare to explore; ex out+plorare to cry out aloud,prob. orig., to cause to flow; perh. akin to E. flow: cf. F. explorer.]
- outgoing n.
- The act or the state of going out.
- refluent a.
- Flowing back; returning; ebbing. [L. refluens, p. pr. of refluere to flow back; pref. re- re- + fluere to flow. See Flurent.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Life is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Few More Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #49518; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Susan Coolidge, Life, in A Few More Verses (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49518, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coolidge-few-more-verses/life.html, id L23485.
Form and metre
Life is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 ABAB-A takeA · seaB · makeA · threeB · immensity · slakeA
- 2 ABA-B- fullA · floodB · beautifulA · god · goodB · inexhaustible
- 3 A-ABAB thirstA · o'er · firstA · shoreB · durstA · exploreB
- 4 ABABA- besideA · weB · tideA · seaB · satisfiedA · eternity
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 |
|---|---|---|
| MORE life we thirst for, but how can we take? | 10 | ·········· |
| We sit like children by the surging sea, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Dip with our shallow shells all day, and make | 10 | ··//˘····· |
| A boast of the scant measure, two or three | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Brief drops caught from the immensity; | 9 | ·····˘/˘˘ |
| But what are these the long day’s thirst to slake? | 10 | ·········· |
| There is the sea, which would not be less full, | 10 | ·········· |
| Though all the lands should borrow of its flood; | 10 | ·····/···· |
| The sea of Life, fed by the beautiful | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Abounding river of the smile of God, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘····· |
| Source of supply and fountain of all good, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Boundless and free and inexhaustible. | 10 | /˘···˘˘/˘˘ |
| There is the sea; and close by is our thirst, | 10 | ········/· |
| Yet here we sit and gaze the waters o’er, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And dip our shallow shells in as at first. | 10 | ··//˘····· |
| Just where the ripples break to wash the shore, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And catch a tantalizing drop, nor durst | 10 | ···/˘·˘··· |
| The depth or distance of the wave explore. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Ah, mighty ocean which we sport beside, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| One day thy wave will rise and foam, and we, | 10 | ·········· |
| Lost in its strong, outgoing, refluent tide, | 11 | ····/·˘/˘˘· |
| Shall be swept out into the deeper sea, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Shall drink the life of life, and satisfied | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Smile at the shore from far eternity. | 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.