Fame
Ah Fate, cannot a manBe wise without a beard?Say, was it never heardThat wisdom might in youth be gotten,Or wit be ripe before 't was rotten?
He pays too high a priceFor knowledge and for fameWho sells his sinews to be wise,His teeth and bones to buy a name,And crawls through life a paralyticTo earn the praise of bard and critic.
Were it not better done,To dine and sleep through forty years;Be loved by few; be feared by none;Laugh life away; have wine for tears;And take the mortal leap undaunted,Content that all we asked was granted?
But Fate will not permitThe seed of gods to die,Nor suffer sense to win from witIts guerdon in the sky,Nor let us hide, whate'er our pleasure,The world's light underneath a measure.
Go then, sad youth, and shine;Go, sacrifice to Fame;Put youth, joy, health upon the shrine,And life to fan the flame;Being for Seeming bravely barterAnd die to Fame a happy martyr.
Words in this poem
- paralytic a.
- Of or pertaining to paralysis; resembling paralysis. [L. paralyticus, Gr. paralytique.]
- dine v. i.
- To eat the principal regular meal of the day; to take dinner. [F. dîner, OF. disner, LL. disnare, contr. fr. an assumed disjunare; dis- + an assumed junare (OF. juner) to fast, for L. jejunare, fr. jejunus fasting. See Jeju]
- undaunted a.
- Not daunted; not subdued or depressed by fear.
- guerdon n.
- A reward; requital; recompense; -- used in both a good and a bad sense. [OF. guerdon, guerredon, LL. widerdonum (influenced by L. donum gift, cf. Donation ), fr. OHG. widarl; widar again, against (G. wider wieder) + lon reward, G. lo]
- bravely adv.
- In a brave manner; courageously; gallantly; valiantly; splendidly; nobly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fame 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, Fame, in Poems (1847), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12843, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/emerson-poems/fame.html, id L07581.
Form and metre
Fame is 29 lines in 5 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABCC, in 2 of the 5 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.6 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 28% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 A--AA manA · beard · heard · gottenA · rottenA
- 2 -A-ABB price · fameA · wise · nameA · paralyticB · criticB
- 3 ABAB-- doneA · yearsB · noneA · tearsB · undaunted · granted
- 4 ABABCC permitA · dieB · witA · skyB · pleasureC · measureC
- 5 ABABCC shineA · fameB · shrineA · flameB · barterC · martyrC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ah Fate, cannot a man | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Be wise without a beard? | 6 | ······ |
| Say, was it never heard | 6 | ···/˘· |
| That wisdom might in youth be gotten, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Or wit be ripe before 't was rotten? | 10 | ········/˘ |
| He pays too high a price | 6 | ······ |
| For knowledge and for fame | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Who sells his sinews to be wise, | 8 | ········ |
| His teeth and bones to buy a name, | 8 | ········ |
| And crawls through life a paralytic | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| To earn the praise of bard and critic. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Were it not better done, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| To dine and sleep through forty years; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Be loved by few; be feared by none; | 8 | ········ |
| Laugh life away; have wine for tears; | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And take the mortal leap undaunted, | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| Content that all we asked was granted? | 9 | ˘/·····/˘ |
| But Fate will not permit | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The seed of gods to die, | 6 | ······ |
| Nor suffer sense to win from wit | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Its guerdon in the sky, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Nor let us hide, whate'er our pleasure, | 10 | ····˘˘///˘ |
| The world's light underneath a measure. | 9 | ····˘/·/˘ |
| Go then, sad youth, and shine; | 6 | ······ |
| Go, sacrifice to Fame; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Put youth, joy, health upon the shrine, | 8 | ········ |
| And life to fan the flame; | 6 | ······ |
| Being for Seeming bravely barter | 9 | /˘·/˘/˘/˘ |
| And die to Fame a happy martyr. | 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.