The Titmouse
You shall not be overboldWhen you deal with arctic cold,As late I found my lukewarm bloodChilled wading in the snow-choked wood.How should I fight? my foeman fineHas million arms to one of mine:East, west, for aid I looked in vain,East, west, north, south, are his domain.Miles off, three dangerous miles, is home;Must borrow his winds who there would come.Up and away for life! be fleet!--The frost-king ties my fumbling feet,Sings in my ears, my hands are stones,Curdles the blood to the marble bones,Tugs at the heart-strings, numbs the sense,And hems in life with narrowing fence.Well, in this broad bed lie and sleep,--The punctual stars will vigil keep,--Embalmed by purifying cold;The winds shall sing their dead-march old,The snow is no ignoble shroud,The moon thy mourner, and the cloud.
Softly,--but this way fate was pointing,'T was coming fast to such anointing,When piped a tiny voice hard by,Gay and polite, a cheerful cry,Chic-chic-a-dee-de! saucy noteOut of sound heart and merry throat,As if it said, 'Good day, good sir!Fine afternoon, old passenger!Happy to meet you in these places,Where January brings few faces.'
This poet, though he live apart,Moved by his hospitable heart,Sped, when I passed his sylvan fort,To do the honors of his court,As fits a feathered lord of land;Flew near, with soft wing grazed my hand,Hopped on the bough, then, darting low,Prints his small impress on the snow,Shows feats of his gymnastic play,Head downward, clinging to the spray.
Here was this atom in full breath,Hurling defiance at vast death;This scrap of valor just for playFronts the north-wind in waistcoat gray,As if to shame my weak behavior;I greeted loud my little savior,'You pet! what dost here? and what for?In these woods, thy small Labrador,At this pinch, wee San Salvador!What fire burns in that little chestSo frolic, stout and self-possest?Henceforth I wear no stripe but thine;Ashes and jet all hues outshine.Why are not diamonds black and gray,To ape thy dare-devil array?And I affirm, the spacious NorthExists to draw thy virtue forth.I think no virtue goes with size;The reason of all cowardiceIs, that men are overgrown,And, to be valiant, must come downTo the titmouse dimension.'
'T is good will makes intelligence,And I began to catch the senseOf my bird's song: 'Live out of doorsIn the great woods, on prairie floors.I dine in the sun; when he sinks in the sea,I too have a hole in a hollow tree;And I like less when Summer beatsWith stifling beams on these retreats,Than noontide twilights which snow makesWith tempest of the blinding flakes.For well the soul, if stout within,Can arm impregnably the skin;And polar frost my frame defied,Made of the air that blows outside.'
With glad remembrance of my debt,I homeward turn; farewell, my pet!When here again thy pilgrim comes,He shall bring store of seeds and crumbs.Doubt not, so long as earth has bread,Thou first and foremost shalt be fed;The Providence that is most largeTakes hearts like thine in special charge,Helps who for their own need are strong,And the sky doats on cheerful song.Henceforth I prize thy wiry chantO'er all that mass and minster vaunt;For men mis-hear thy call in Spring,As 't would accost some frivolous wing,Crying out of the hazel copse, Phe-be!And, in winter, Chic-a-dee-dee!I think old Caesar must have heardIn northern Gaul my dauntless bird,And, echoed in some frosty wold,Borrowed thy battle-numbers bold.And I will write our annals new,And thank thee for a better clew,I, who dreamed not when I came hereTo find the antidote of fear,Now hear thee say in Roman key,Paean! Veni, vidi, vici.
Words in this poem 30
- 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,]
- overbold a.
- Excessively or presumptuously bold; impudent.
- lukewarm a.
- Moderately warm; neither cold nor hot; tepid; not ardent; not zealous; cool; indifferent. [See Luke.]
- chilled a.
- Hardened on the surface or edge by chilling; as, chilled iron; a chilled wheel.
- foeman n.
- An enemy in war. [AS. fhman.]
- 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.]
- narrowing n.
- The act of contracting, or of making or becoming less in breadth or extent.
- punctual a.
- Consisting in a point; limited to a point; unextended. [F. ponctuel (cf. Sp.puntual, It. puntuale), from L. punctum point. See Point.]
- vigil n.
- Abstinence from sleep, whether at a time when sleep is customary or not; the act of keeping awake, or the state of being awake, or the state of being awake; sleeplessness; wakefulness; watch. [OE. vigile, L. vigilia, from vigil awake, watchful, probably akin to E. wake: cf. F. vigile. See Wake, v. i., and cf. Reveille, Surveillance, Vedette, Vegetable]
- mourner n.
- One who mourns or is grieved at any misfortune, as the death of a friend.
- piped a.
- Formed with a pipe; having pipe or pipes; tubular.
- polite a.
- Smooth; polished. [L. politus, p. p. of polire to polish: cf. F. poli. See Polish, v.]
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
- january n.
- The first month of the year, containing thirty-one days. [L. Januarius, fr. Janus an old Latin deity, the god of the sun and the year, to whom the month of January was sacred; cf. janua a door, Skr. ya to go.]
- hopped p. a.
- Impregnated with hops.
- scrap n.
- Something scraped off; hence, a small piece; a bit; a fragment; a detached, incomplete portion. [OE. scrappe, fr. Icel. skrap trifle, cracking. See Scrape, v. t.]
- henceforth adv.
- From this time forward; henceforward.
- outshine v. i.
- To shine forth.
- valiant a.
- Vigorous in body; strong; powerful; as, a valiant fencer. [OE. valiant, F. vaillant, OF. vaillant, valant, originally p. pr. of OF. & F. valoir to be worth, L. valere to be strong. See Wield, and cf. Avail, Convalesce, ]
- 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]
- noontide n.
- The time of noon; midday. [From noon + tide time; cf. AS. n the ninth hour.]
- homeward a.
- Being in the direction of home; as, the homeward way.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- wiry a.
- Made of wire; like wire; drawn out like wire. [Written also wiery.]
- copse n.
- A wood of small growth; a thicket of brushwood. See Coppice. [Contr. from coppice.]
- dauntless a.
- Incapable of being daunted; undaunted; bold; fearless; intrepid.
- wold n.
- A wood; a forest. [OE. wold, wald, AS. weald, wald, a wood, forest; akin to OFries. & OS. wald, D. woud, G. wald, Icel. völlr, a field, and probably to Gr. va a garden, inclosure.]
- annals n.
- A relation of events in chronological order, each event being recorded under the year in which it happened. [L. annalis (sc. liber), and more frequently in the pl. annales (sc. libri), chronicles, fr. annus year. Cf. Annual.]
- thank n.
- A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
- clew v. t.
- To direct; to guide, as by a thread. [Cf. D. kluwenen. See Clew, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Titmouse 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, The Titmouse, in Poems (1847), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12843, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/emerson-poems/the-titmouse.html, id L07464.
Form and metre
The Titmouse is 104 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 87% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 11 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 16% 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIAAJJ overboldA · coldA · bloodB · woodB · fineC · mineC · vainD · domainD · homeE · comeE · fleetF · feetF · stonesG · bonesG · senseH · fenceH · sleepI · keepI · coldA · oldA · shroudJ · cloudJ
- 2 AABBCC--DD pointingA · anointingA · byB · cryB · noteC · throatC · sir · passenger · placesD · facesD
- 3 AABBCCDDEE apartA · heartA · fortB · courtB · landC · handC · lowD · snowD · playE · sprayE
- 4 AABBCCDDDEEFFBBGG--HHH breathA · deathA · playB · grayB · behaviorC · saviorC · forD · labradorD · salvadorD · chestE · possestE · thineF · outshineF · grayB · arrayB · northG · forthG · size · cowardice · overgrownH · downH · dimensionH
- 5 AABBCCDDEEFFGG intelligenceA · senseA · doorsB · floorsB · seaC · treeC · beatsD · retreatsD · makesE · flakesE · withinF · skinF · defiedG · outsideG
- 6 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLH- debtA · petA · comesB · crumbsB · breadC · fedC · largeD · chargeD · strongE · songE · chantF · vauntF · springG · wingG · beH · deeH · heardI · birdI · woldJ · boldJ · newK · clewK · hereL · fearL · keyH · vici
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 |
|---|---|---|
| You shall not be overbold | 7 | ······· |
| When you deal with arctic cold, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| As late I found my lukewarm blood | 8 | ·····//· |
| Chilled wading in the snow-choked wood. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| How should I fight? my foeman fine | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Has million arms to one of mine: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| East, west, for aid I looked in vain, | 8 | ········ |
| East, west, north, south, are his domain. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Miles off, three dangerous miles, is home; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Must borrow his winds who there would come. | 9 | ·/······· |
| Up and away for life! be fleet!-- | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| The frost-king ties my fumbling feet, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Sings in my ears, my hands are stones, | 8 | ········ |
| Curdles the blood to the marble bones, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Tugs at the heart-strings, numbs the sense, | 8 | ········ |
| And hems in life with narrowing fence. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Well, in this broad bed lie and sleep,-- | 8 | ········ |
| The punctual stars will vigil keep,-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Embalmed by purifying cold; | 8 | ˘/·/˘·˘· |
| The winds shall sing their dead-march old, | 8 | ········ |
| The snow is no ignoble shroud, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The moon thy mourner, and the cloud. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Softly,--but this way fate was pointing, | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| 'T was coming fast to such anointing, | 10 | ··/˘···˘/˘ |
| When piped a tiny voice hard by, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Gay and polite, a cheerful cry, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Chic-chic-a-dee-de! saucy note | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Out of sound heart and merry throat, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| As if it said, 'Good day, good sir! | 8 | ········ |
| Fine afternoon, old passenger! | 8 | ··˘/·/˘˘ |
| Happy to meet you in these places, | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| Where January brings few faces.' | 9 | ·/˘·˘··/˘ |
| This poet, though he live apart, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Moved by his hospitable heart, | 8 | ···//˘˘· |
| Sped, when I passed his sylvan fort, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To do the honors of his court, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As fits a feathered lord of land; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Flew near, with soft wing grazed my hand, | 8 | ········ |
| Hopped on the bough, then, darting low, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Prints his small impress on the snow, | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| Shows feats of his gymnastic play, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Head downward, clinging to the spray. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Here was this atom in full breath, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Hurling defiance at vast death; | 8 | /˘˘/˘··· |
| This scrap of valor just for play | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Fronts the north-wind in waistcoat gray, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| As if to shame my weak behavior; | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| I greeted loud my little savior, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| 'You pet! what dost here? and what for? | 8 | ········ |
| In these woods, thy small Labrador, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| At this pinch, wee San Salvador! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| What fire burns in that little chest | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| So frolic, stout and self-possest? | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| Henceforth I wear no stripe but thine; | 8 | //······ |
| Ashes and jet all hues outshine. | 8 | /˘····/· |
| Why are not diamonds black and gray, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To ape thy dare-devil array? | 8 | ····/˘˘/ |
| And I affirm, the spacious North | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Exists to draw thy virtue forth. | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| I think no virtue goes with size; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The reason of all cowardice | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Is, that men are overgrown, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| And, to be valiant, must come down | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To the titmouse dimension.' | 7 | ··/˘˘/˘ |
| 'T is good will makes intelligence, | 9 | ·····˘/˘˘ |
| And I began to catch the sense | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Of my bird's song: 'Live out of doors | 8 | ········ |
| In the great woods, on prairie floors. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I dine in the sun; when he sinks in the sea, | 11 | ··········· |
| I too have a hole in a hollow tree; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And I like less when Summer beats | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With stifling beams on these retreats, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Than noontide twilights which snow makes | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| With tempest of the blinding flakes. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| For well the soul, if stout within, | 8 | ········ |
| Can arm impregnably the skin; | 8 | ········ |
| And polar frost my frame defied, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Made of the air that blows outside.' | 8 | ······// |
| With glad remembrance of my debt, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| I homeward turn; farewell, my pet! | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| When here again thy pilgrim comes, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| He shall bring store of seeds and crumbs. | 8 | ········ |
| Doubt not, so long as earth has bread, | 8 | ········ |
| Thou first and foremost shalt be fed; | 8 | ···/···· |
| The Providence that is most large | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Takes hearts like thine in special charge, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Helps who for their own need are strong, | 8 | ········ |
| And the sky doats on cheerful song. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Henceforth I prize thy wiry chant | 8 | //···/˘· |
| O'er all that mass and minster vaunt; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For men mis-hear thy call in Spring, | 8 | ········ |
| As 't would accost some frivolous wing, | 9 | ···˘/·/˘· |
| Crying out of the hazel copse, Phe-be! | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| And, in winter, Chic-a-dee-dee! | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| I think old Caesar must have heard | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In northern Gaul my dauntless bird, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And, echoed in some frosty wold, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Borrowed thy battle-numbers bold. | 8 | /··/˘/˘· |
| And I will write our annals new, | 8 | ····//˘· |
| And thank thee for a better clew, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I, who dreamed not when I came here | 8 | ········ |
| To find the antidote of fear, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Now hear thee say in Roman key, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Paean! Veni, vidi, vici. | 8 | /˘······ |
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