Double Ballade of the Nothingness of Things
THE big teetotum twirls,And epochs wax and waneAs chance subsides or swirls;But of the loss and gainThe sum is always plain.Read on the mighty pall,The weed of funeralThat covers praise and blame,The —isms and the —anities,Magnificence and shame:—‘O Vanity of Vanities!’
The Fates are subtile girls!They give us chaff for grain.And Time, the Thunderer, hurls,Like bolted death, disdainAt all that heart and brainConceive, or great or small,Upon this earthly ball.Would you be knight and dame?Or woo the sweet humanities?Or illustrate a name?O Vanity of Vanities!
We sound the sea for pearls,Or drown them in a drain;We flute it with the merles,Or tug and sweat and strain;We grovel, or we reign;We saunter, or we brawl;We answer, or we call;We search the stars for Fame,Or sink her subterranities;The legend’s still the same:—‘O Vanity of Vanities!’
Here at the wine one birls,There some one clanks a chain.The flag that this man furlsThat man to float is fain.Pleasure gives place to pain:These in the kennel crawl,While others take the wall.She has a glorious aim,He lives for the inanities.What comes of every claim?O Vanity of Vanities!
Alike are clods and earls.For sot, and seer, and swain,For emperors and for churls,For antidote and bane,There is but one refrain:But one for king and thrall,For David and for Saul,For fleet of foot and lame,For pieties and profanities,The picture and the frame:—‘O Vanity of Vanities!’
Life is a smoke that curls—Curls in a flickering skein,That winds and whisks and whirlsA figment thin and vain,Into the vast Inane.One end for hut and hall!One end for cell and stall!Burned in one common flameAre wisdoms and insanities.For this alone we came:—‘O Vanity of Vanities!’
Words in this poem
- teetotum n.
- A child's toy, somewhat resembling a top, and twirled by the fingers. [For T-totum. It was used for playing games of chance, and was four-sided, one side having the letter T on it, standing for Latin totum all, meaning, take all th]
- magnificence n.
- The act of doing what magnificent; the state or quality of being magnificent. Acts xix. 27. [F. magnificence, L. magnificentia. See Magnific.]
- thunderer n.
- One who thunders; -- used especially as a translation of L.
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- grovel v. i.
- To creep on the earth, or with the face to the ground; to lie prone, or move uneasily with the body prostrate on the earth; to lie fiat on one's belly, expressive of abjectness; to crawl. [From OE. grovelinge, grufelinge, adv., on the face, prone, which was misunderstood as a p. pr.; cf. OE. gruf, groff, in the same sense; of Scand. origin, cf. Ic]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- kennel n.
- The water course of a street; a little canal or channel; a gutter; also, a puddle. Bp. Hall. [See Channel, Canal.]
- crawl v. i.
- To move slowly by drawing the body along the ground, as a worm; to move slowly on hands and kness; to creep. [Dan. kravle, or Icel. krafla, to paw, scrabble with the hands; akin to Sw. kr to crawl; cf. LG. krabbeln, D. krabbelen to scratch.]
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- bane v. t.
- To be the bane of; to ruin. Fuller.
- figment n.
- An invention; a fiction; something feigned or imagined. [L. figmentum, fr. fingere to form, shape, invent, feign. See Feign.]
- inane a.
- Without contents; empty; void of sense or intelligence; purposeless; pointless; characterless; useless. [L. inanis.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Double Ballade of the Nothingness of Things 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, Double Ballade of the Nothingness of Things, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/double-ballade-of-the-nothingness-of-things.html, id L12367.
Form and metre
Double Ballade of the Nothingness of Things is 66 lines in 6 stanzas of 11 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABBCCDEDE, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, 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 6.4 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABABBCCDEDE twirlsA · waneB · swirlsA · gainB · plainB · pallC · funeralC · blameD · anitiesE · shameD · vanitiesE
- 2 ABABBCCD-D- girlsA · grainB · hurlsA · disdainB · brainB · smallC · ballC · dameD · humanities · nameD · vanities
- 3 ABABBCCDEDE pearlsA · drainB · merlesA · strainB · reignB · brawlC · callC · fameD · subterranitiesE · sameD · vanitiesE
- 4 ABABBCCDEDE birlsA · chainB · furlsA · fainB · painB · crawlC · wallC · aimD · inanitiesE · claimD · vanitiesE
- 5 ABABBCCDEDE earlsA · swainB · churlsA · baneB · refrainB · thrallC · saulC · lameD · profanitiesE · frameD · vanitiesE
- 6 ABABBCCDEDE curlsA · skeinB · whirlsA · vainB · inaneB · hallC · stallC · flameD · insanitiesE · cameD · vanitiesE
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| THE big teetotum twirls, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| And epochs wax and wane | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| As chance subsides or swirls; | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| But of the loss and gain | 6 | ······ |
| The sum is always plain. | 6 | ···/·· |
| Read on the mighty pall, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The weed of funeral | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| That covers praise and blame, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The —isms and the —anities, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Magnificence and shame:— | 6 | ˘/˘˘·· |
| ‘O Vanity of Vanities!’ | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| The Fates are subtile girls! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| They give us chaff for grain. | 6 | ······ |
| And Time, the Thunderer, hurls, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| Like bolted death, disdain | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| At all that heart and brain | 6 | ······ |
| Conceive, or great or small, | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Upon this earthly ball. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Would you be knight and dame? | 6 | ······ |
| Or woo the sweet humanities? | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| Or illustrate a name? | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| O Vanity of Vanities! | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| We sound the sea for pearls, | 6 | ······ |
| Or drown them in a drain; | 6 | ······ |
| We flute it with the merles, | 6 | ······ |
| Or tug and sweat and strain; | 6 | ······ |
| We grovel, or we reign; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| We saunter, or we brawl; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| We answer, or we call; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| We search the stars for Fame, | 6 | ······ |
| Or sink her subterranities; | 7 | ······· |
| The legend’s still the same:— | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| ‘O Vanity of Vanities!’ | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| Here at the wine one birls, | 6 | ······ |
| There some one clanks a chain. | 6 | ······ |
| The flag that this man furls | 6 | ······ |
| That man to float is fain. | 6 | ······ |
| Pleasure gives place to pain: | 6 | /˘···· |
| These in the kennel crawl, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| While others take the wall. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| She has a glorious aim, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| He lives for the inanities. | 7 | ······· |
| What comes of every claim? | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| O Vanity of Vanities! | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| Alike are clods and earls. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| For sot, and seer, and swain, | 6 | ······ |
| For emperors and for churls, | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| For antidote and bane, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| There is but one refrain: | 6 | ····˘/ |
| But one for king and thrall, | 6 | ······ |
| For David and for Saul, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| For fleet of foot and lame, | 6 | ······ |
| For pieties and profanities, | 9 | ·/˘˘·˘/˘˘ |
| The picture and the frame:— | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| ‘O Vanity of Vanities!’ | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| Life is a smoke that curls— | 6 | ······ |
| Curls in a flickering skein, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| That winds and whisks and whirls | 6 | ······ |
| A figment thin and vain, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Into the vast Inane. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| One end for hut and hall! | 6 | ······ |
| One end for cell and stall! | 6 | ······ |
| Burned in one common flame | 7 | ·˘··/˘· |
| Are wisdoms and insanities. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| For this alone we came:— | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| ‘O Vanity of Vanities!’ | 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.