Solitary
He moved his fellow-men amongAnd changed with them some forms of speech.His heart was separate from his tongue,They would not hear his heart beseech.
Their needs were very like his own,Quivering in bodies numb and dazed;They smiled and talked and felt alone.--Did not their hearts look on amazed?
Words in this poem
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Solitary is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets and Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #56244; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eleanor Farjeon, Solitary, in Sonnets and Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56244, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/farjeon-sonnets-poems/solitary.html, id L21979.
Form and metre
Solitary is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 ABAB amongA · speechB · tongueA · beseechB
- 2 ABAB ownA · dazedB · aloneA · amazedB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| He moved his fellow-men among | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And changed with them some forms of speech. | 8 | ········ |
| His heart was separate from his tongue, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| They would not hear his heart beseech. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Their needs were very like his own, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Quivering in bodies numb and dazed; | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| They smiled and talked and felt alone.-- | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Did not their hearts look on amazed? | 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.