On an Old Book with Uncut Leaves
Emblem of blasted hope and lost desire,No finger ever traced thy yellow pageSave Time's. Thou hast not wrought to noble rageThe hearts thou wouldst have stirred. Not any fireSave sad flames set to light a funeral pyreDost thou suggest. Nay,--impotent in age,Unsought, thou holdst a corner of the stageAnd ceasest even dumbly to aspire.
How different was the thought of him that writ.What promised he to love of ease and wealth,When men should read and kindle at his wit.But here decay eats up the book by stealth,While it, like some old maiden, solemnly,Hugs its incongruous virginity!
Words in this poem
- blasted a.
- Blighted; withered.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- pyre n.
- A funeral pile; a combustible heap on which the dead are burned; hence, any pile to be burnt. [L. pure, Gr. Fire.]
- dumbly adv.
- In silence; mutely.
- aspire v. t.
- To aspire to; to long for; to try to reach; to mount to.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- stealth n.
- The act of stealing; theft. [OE. staple. See Steal, v. t.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On an Old Book with Uncut Leaves is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Project Gutenberg ebook #18338; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Paul Laurence Dunbar, On an Old Book with Uncut Leaves, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/on-an-old-book-with-uncut-leaves.html, id L00642.
Form and metre
On an Old Book with Uncut Leaves is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.6 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABBAABB- desireA · pageB · rageB · fireA · pyreA · ageB · stageB · aspire
- 2 ABAB-- writA · wealthB · witA · stealthB · solemnly · virginity
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Emblem of blasted hope and lost desire, | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| No finger ever traced thy yellow page | 9 | ·/˘/··/˘· |
| Save Time's. Thou hast not wrought to noble rage | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The hearts thou wouldst have stirred. Not any fire | 10 | ·······/˘/ |
| Save sad flames set to light a funeral pyre | 10 | ·······/˘/ |
| Dost thou suggest. Nay,--impotent in age, | 9 | ··˘/·/˘·· |
| Unsought, thou holdst a corner of the stage | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And ceasest even dumbly to aspire. | 9 | ·/˘//˘·˘/ |
| How different was the thought of him that writ. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| What promised he to love of ease and wealth, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| When men should read and kindle at his wit. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But here decay eats up the book by stealth, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| While it, like some old maiden, solemnly, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Hugs its incongruous virginity! | 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.