Time
Old Babel's tower hath felt my potent armI ruin'd Ecbatan and Babylon,Thy huge Colossus, Rhodes, I tumbled down,And on these pyramids I smote my scythe;But they resist its edge--then let them stand.But I can boast a greater feat than this,I long ago have shrouded those in deathWho made those structures rebels to my power--But, O return!--These piles are not immortal!This earth, with all its balls of hills and mountains,Shall perish by my hand--then how can these,These hoary headed pyramids of Egypt,That are but dwindled warts upon her body,That on a little, little spot of groundExtinguish the dull radiance of the sun,Be proof to Death and me?----Traveller return--There's nought but God immortal----He aloneExists secure, when Man, and Death, and Time,(Time not immortal, but a fancied pointIn the vast circle of eternity)Are swallow'd up, and, like the pyramids,Leave not an atom for their monument!
The text is from the edition of 1786. The 1795 edition has the note"anno 1769."
Words in this poem
- colossus n.
- A statue of gigantic size. The name was especially applied to certain famous statues in antiquity, as the Colossus of Nero in Rome, the Colossus of Apollo at Rhodes.
- 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,]
- hoary a.
- White or whitish."The hoary willows."
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Time is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Philip Freneau, Poet of the American Revolution. Volume 1 (of 3), Project Gutenberg ebook #38475; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Philip Freneau, Time, in Poems (1786–1815), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38475, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/freneau-poems/time.html, id L12706.
Form and metre
Time is 24 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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--A arm · babylon · down · scythe · stand · this · death · power · immortal · mountains · these · egypt · body · ground · sun · return · alone · time · pointA · eternity · pyramids · monumentA
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Old Babel's tower hath felt my potent arm | 10 | ·/˘/···/˘· |
| I ruin'd Ecbatan and Babylon, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Thy huge Colossus, Rhodes, I tumbled down, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| And on these pyramids I smote my scythe; | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| But they resist its edge--then let them stand. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| But I can boast a greater feat than this, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I long ago have shrouded those in death | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Who made those structures rebels to my power-- | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| But, O return!--These piles are not immortal! | 11 | ··˘/····˘/˘ |
| This earth, with all its balls of hills and mountains, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Shall perish by my hand--then how can these, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| These hoary headed pyramids of Egypt, | 11 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘·/˘ |
| That are but dwindled warts upon her body, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| That on a little, little spot of ground | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Extinguish the dull radiance of the sun, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Be proof to Death and me?----Traveller return-- | 10 | ······/˘˘/ |
| There's nought but God immortal----He alone | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| Exists secure, when Man, and Death, and Time, | 10 | ˘/˘/······ |
| (Time not immortal, but a fancied point | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| In the vast circle of eternity) | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Are swallow'd up, and, like the pyramids, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| Leave not an atom for their monument! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| The text is from the edition of 1786. The 1795 edition has the note | 16 | ·····˘/˘··˘/˘··· |
| "anno 1769." | 2 | /˘ |
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