Art
Give to barrows, trays and pansGrace and glimmer of romance;Bring the moonlight into noonHid in gleaming piles of stone;On the city's paved streetPlant gardens lined with lilacs sweet;Let spouting fountains cool the air,Singing in the sun-baked square;Let statue, picture, park and hall,Ballad, flag and festival,The past restore, the day adorn,And make to-morrow a new morn.So shall the drudge in dusty frockSpy behind the city clockRetinues of airy kings,Skirts of angels, starry wings,His fathers shining in bright fables,His children fed at heavenly tables.'T is the privilege of ArtThus to play its cheerful part,Man on earth to acclimateAnd bend the exile to his fate,And, moulded of one elementWith the days and firmament,Teach him on these as stairs to climb,And live on even terms with Time;Whilst upper life the slender rillOf human sense doth overfill.
Words in this poem
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- 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,]
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- acclimate v. t.
- To habituate to a climate not native; to acclimatize. J. H. [F. acclimater; à (l. ad) + climat climate. See Climate.]
- firmament n.
- Fixed foundation; established basis. [L. firmamentum, fr. firmare to make firm: cf. F. firmament. See Firm, v. & a.]
- rill n.
- A very small brook; a streamlet. [Cf. LG. rille a small channel or brook, a furrow, a chamfer, OE. rigol a small brook, F. rigole a trench or furrow for water, W. rhill a row, rhigol a little di]
- overfill v. t.
- To fill to excess; to surcharge.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Art is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Household Edition, Project Gutenberg ebook #12843; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Art, in Poems (1847), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12843, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/emerson-poems/art.html, id L07488.
Form and metre
Art is 28 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 86% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. 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 7.6 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 32% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 ----AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLL pans · romance · noon · stone · streetA · sweetA · airB · squareB · hallC · festivalC · adornD · mornD · frockE · clockE · kingsF · wingsF · fablesG · tablesG · artH · partH · acclimateI · fateI · elementJ · firmamentJ · climbK · timeK · rillL · overfillL
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Give to barrows, trays and pans | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Grace and glimmer of romance; | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Bring the moonlight into noon | 7 | ··/···· |
| Hid in gleaming piles of stone; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| On the city's paved street | 7 | ··/˘·˘· |
| Plant gardens lined with lilacs sweet; | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Let spouting fountains cool the air, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Singing in the sun-baked square; | 8 | /˘····˘· |
| Let statue, picture, park and hall, | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| Ballad, flag and festival, | 7 | /˘··/˘˘ |
| The past restore, the day adorn, | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| And make to-morrow a new morn. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| So shall the drudge in dusty frock | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Spy behind the city clock | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Retinues of airy kings, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Skirts of angels, starry wings, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| His fathers shining in bright fables, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| His children fed at heavenly tables. | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| 'T is the privilege of Art | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Thus to play its cheerful part, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Man on earth to acclimate | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And bend the exile to his fate, | 8 | ···/···· |
| And, moulded of one element | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| With the days and firmament, | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Teach him on these as stairs to climb, | 8 | ········ |
| And live on even terms with Time; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Whilst upper life the slender rill | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Of human sense doth overfill. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
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.