Apparition
THIN-LEGGED, thin-chested, slight unspeakably,Neat-footed and weak-fingered: in his face—Lean, large-boned, curved of beak, and touched with race,Bold-lipped, rich-tinted, mutable as the sea,The brown eyes radiant with vivacity—There shines a brilliant and romantic grace,A spirit intense and rare, with trace on traceOf passion and impudence and energy.Valiant in velvet, light in ragged luck,Most vain, most generous, sternly critical,Buffoon and poet, lover and sensualist:A deal of Ariel, just a streak of Puck,Much Antony, of Hamlet most of all,And something of the Shorter-Catechist.
Words in this poem
- 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, ]
- generous a.
- Of honorable birth or origin; highborn. [F. généreux, fr. L. generous of noble birth, noble, excellent, magnanimous, fr. genus birth, race: cf. It. generoso. See 2d Gender.]
- sternly adv.
- In a stern manner.
- sensualist n.
- One who is sensual; one given to the indulgence of the appetites or senses as the means of happiness. [CF. F. sensualiste.]
- puck n.
- A celebrated fairy, [OE. pouke; cf. OSw. puke, Icel. puki an evil demon, W. pwca a hobgoblin. Cf. Poker a bugbear, Pug.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Apparition is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1568; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: W. E. Henley, Apparition, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/apparition.html, id L12346.
Form and metre
Apparition is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%). 83% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 7% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 -AA--AA-BCDBCD unspeakably · faceA · raceA · sea · vivacity · graceA · traceA · energy · luckB · criticalC · sensualistD · puckB · allC · catechistD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| THIN-LEGGED, thin-chested, slight unspeakably, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| Neat-footed and weak-fingered: in his face— | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Lean, large-boned, curved of beak, and touched with race, | 10 | ·········· |
| Bold-lipped, rich-tinted, mutable as the sea, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The brown eyes radiant with vivacity— | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| There shines a brilliant and romantic grace, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| A spirit intense and rare, with trace on trace | 10 | ·/˘/······ |
| Of passion and impudence and energy. | 10 | ·/˘·/˘˘·/˘ |
| Valiant in velvet, light in ragged luck, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Most vain, most generous, sternly critical, | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| Buffoon and poet, lover and sensualist: | 12 | ˘/·/˘/˘·/˘˘˘ |
| A deal of Ariel, just a streak of Puck, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Much Antony, of Hamlet most of all, | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| And something of the Shorter-Catechist. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
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.