Solution
I am the Muse who sung alwayBy Jove, at dawn of the first day.Star-crowned, sole-sitting, long I wroughtTo fire the stagnant earth with thought:On spawning slime my song prevails,Wolves shed their fangs, and dragons scales;Flushed in the sky the sweet May-morn,Earth smiled with flowers, and man was born.Then Asia yeaned her shepherd race,And Nile substructs her granite base,--Tented Tartary, columned Nile,--And, under vines, on rocky isle,Or on wind-blown sea-marge bleak,Forward stepped the perfect Greek:That wit and joy might find a tongue,And earth grow civil, HOMER sung.
Flown to Italy from Greece,I brooded long and held my peace,For I am wont to sing uncalled,And in days of evil plightUnlock doors of new delight;And sometimes mankind I appalledWith a bitter horoscope,With spasms of terror for balm of hope.Then by better thought I leadBards to speak what nations need;So I folded me in fears,And DANTE searched the triple spheres,Moulding Nature at his will,So shaped, so colored, swift or still,And, sculptor-like, his large designEtched on Alp and Apennine.
Seethed in mists of Penmanmaur,Taught by Plinlimmon's Druid power,England's genius filled all measureOf heart and soul, of strength and pleasure,Gave to the mind its emperor,And life was larger than before:Nor sequent centuries could hitOrbit and sum of SHAKSPEARE'S wit.The men who lived with him becamePoets, for the air was fame.
Far in the North, where polar nightHolds in check the frolic light,In trance upborne past mortal goalThe Swede EMANUEL leads the soul.Through snows above, mines underground,The inks of Erebus he found;Rehearsed to men the damned wailsOn which the seraph music sails.In spirit-worlds he trod alone,But walked the earth unmarked, unknown,The near bystander caught no sound,--Yet they who listened far aloofHeard rendings of the skyey roof,And felt, beneath, the quaking ground;And his air-sown, unheeded words,In the next age, are flaming swords.
In newer days of war and trade,Romance forgot, and faith decayed,When Science armed and guided war,And clerks the Janus-gates unbar,When France, where poet never grew,Halved and dealt the globe anew,GOETHE, raised o'er joy and strife,Drew the firm lines of Fate and LifeAnd brought Olympian wisdom downTo court and mart, to gown and town.Stooping, his finger wrote in clayThe open secret of to-day.
So bloom the unfading petals five,And verses that all verse outlive.
Words in this poem 24
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- 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.]
- tented a.
- Covered with tents.
- columned a.
- Having columns.
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- plight v. t.
- To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait. [OE. pliten; probably through Old French, fr. LL. plectare, L. plectere. See Plait, Ply.]
- unlock v. t.
- To unfasten, as what is locked; as, to unlock a door or a chest. [Cf. AS. unl. See 1st Un-, and Lock, v. t.]
- moulding n.
- The act or process of shaping in or on a mold, or of making molds; the art or occupation of a molder.
- sculptor n.
- One who sculptures; one whose occupation is to carve statues, or works of sculpture. [L. sculptor, fr. sculpere, sculptum, to carve; cf. scalpere to cut, carve, scratch, and Gr. sculpteur.]
- apennine a.
- Of, pertaining to, or designating, the Apennines, a chain of mountains extending through Italy. [L. Apenninus, fr. Celtic pen, or ben, peak, mountain.]
- druid n.
- One of an order of priests which in ancient times existed among certain branches of the Celtic race, especially among the Gauls and Britons. [L. Druides; of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. & Gael. draoi, druidh, magician, Druid, W. derwydd Druid.]
- sequent a.
- Following; succeeding; in continuance. [L. sequens, -entis, p. pr. of sequi to follow. See Sue to follow.]
- swede n.
- A native or inhabitant of Sweden. [Cf. G. Schwede.]
- erebus n.
- A place of nether darkness, being the gloomy space through which the souls passed to Hades. See Milton's
- damned a.
- Sentenced to punishment in a future state; condemned; consigned to perdition.
- bystander n.
- One who stands near; a spectator; one who has no concern with the business transacting. [By + stander, equiv. to stander-by; cf. AS. big-standan to stand by or near.]
- skyey a.
- Like the sky; ethereal; being in the sky.
- unbar v. t.
- To remove a bar or bars from; to unbolt; to open; as, to unbar a gate. Heber. [1st pref. un- + bar.]
- halved a.
- Appearing as if one side, or one half, were cut away; dimidiate.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- mart v. t.
- To buy or sell in, or as in, a mart.
- wrote v. i.
- To root with the snout. See 1st Root. [OE. wroten. See 1st Root.]
- outlive v. t.
- To live beyond, or longer than; to survive.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Solution 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, Solution, in Poems (1847), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12843, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/emerson-poems/solution.html, id L07456.
Form and metre
Solution is 72 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 69% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.9 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 22% 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 --AABBCCDDEEFFGG alway · day · wroughtA · thoughtA · prevailsB · scalesB · mornC · bornC · raceD · baseD · nileE · isleE · bleakF · greekF · tongueG · sungG
- 2 AABCCBDDEEFFGG-- greeceA · peaceA · uncalledB · plightC · delightC · appalledB · horoscopeD · hopeD · leadE · needE · fearsF · spheresF · willG · stillG · design · apennine
- 3 A-BB-ACCDD penmanmaurA · power · measureB · pleasureB · emperor · beforeA · hitC · witC · becameD · fameD
- 4 AABBCCDDEECFFC-- nightA · lightA · goalB · soulB · undergroundC · foundC · wailsD · sailsD · aloneE · unknownE · soundC · aloofF · roofF · groundC · words · swords
- 5 AA--BBCCDDEE tradeA · decayedA · war · unbar · grewB · anewB · strifeC · lifeC · downD · townD · clayE · dayE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I am the Muse who sung alway | 8 | ······/˘ |
| By Jove, at dawn of the first day. | 8 | ········ |
| Star-crowned, sole-sitting, long I wrought | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To fire the stagnant earth with thought: | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| On spawning slime my song prevails, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Wolves shed their fangs, and dragons scales; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Flushed in the sky the sweet May-morn, | 8 | ········ |
| Earth smiled with flowers, and man was born. | 8 | ···/···· |
| Then Asia yeaned her shepherd race, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And Nile substructs her granite base,-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Tented Tartary, columned Nile,-- | 8 | /˘/˘˘/˘· |
| And, under vines, on rocky isle, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or on wind-blown sea-marge bleak, | 7 | ······· |
| Forward stepped the perfect Greek: | 8 | /˘·˘·˘/· |
| That wit and joy might find a tongue, | 8 | ········ |
| And earth grow civil, HOMER sung. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Flown to Italy from Greece, | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| I brooded long and held my peace, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| For I am wont to sing uncalled, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And in days of evil plight | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Unlock doors of new delight; | 7 | ˘/···˘/ |
| And sometimes mankind I appalled | 8 | ·/·//·˘/ |
| With a bitter horoscope, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| With spasms of terror for balm of hope. | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| Then by better thought I lead | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Bards to speak what nations need; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| So I folded me in fears, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And DANTE searched the triple spheres, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Moulding Nature at his will, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| So shaped, so colored, swift or still, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And, sculptor-like, his large design | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Etched on Alp and Apennine. | 8 | ·˘···/˘· |
| Seethed in mists of Penmanmaur, | 8 | ·˘······ |
| Taught by Plinlimmon's Druid power, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| England's genius filled all measure | 8 | /˘/˘··/˘ |
| Of heart and soul, of strength and pleasure, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Gave to the mind its emperor, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| And life was larger than before: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Nor sequent centuries could hit | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| Orbit and sum of SHAKSPEARE'S wit. | 8 | /˘······ |
| The men who lived with him became | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Poets, for the air was fame. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Far in the North, where polar night | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Holds in check the frolic light, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| In trance upborne past mortal goal | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The Swede EMANUEL leads the soul. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Through snows above, mines underground, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The inks of Erebus he found; | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Rehearsed to men the damned wails | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| On which the seraph music sails. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| In spirit-worlds he trod alone, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| But walked the earth unmarked, unknown, | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| The near bystander caught no sound,-- | 8 | ··/·˘··· |
| Yet they who listened far aloof | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Heard rendings of the skyey roof, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And felt, beneath, the quaking ground; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And his air-sown, unheeded words, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| In the next age, are flaming swords. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In newer days of war and trade, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Romance forgot, and faith decayed, | 8 | ˘/˘/··˘/ |
| When Science armed and guided war, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And clerks the Janus-gates unbar, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| When France, where poet never grew, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Halved and dealt the globe anew, | 8 | ·˘····˘/ |
| GOETHE, raised o'er joy and strife, | 7 | ··˘···· |
| Drew the firm lines of Fate and Life | 8 | ········ |
| And brought Olympian wisdom down | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| To court and mart, to gown and town. | 8 | ········ |
| Stooping, his finger wrote in clay | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| The open secret of to-day. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| So bloom the unfading petals five, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And verses that all verse outlive. | 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.