Prelude
Doubt takes to wings on such a night as this;And while the traveler hugs her fluttering cloak,And staggers o'er the weary waste alone,Beneath a pitiless heaven, they flap his face,And wheel above, or hunt his fainting soul,As, with relentless greed, a vulture throng,With their lank shadows mock the glazing eyesOf the last camel of the caravan.And Faith takes forms and wings on such a night.Where love burns brightly at the household hearth,And from the altar of each peaceful heartAscends the fragrant incense of its thanks,And every pulse with sympathetic throbTells the true rhythm of trustfulest content,They flutter in and out, and touch to smilesThe sleeping lips of infancy; and fanThe blush that lights the modest maiden's cheeks;And toss the locks of children at their play.
Silence is vocal if we listen well;And Life and Being sing in dullest earsFrom morn to night, from night to morn again,With fine articulations; but when GodDisturbs the soul with terror, or inspiresWith a great joy, the words of Doubt and FaithSound quick and sharp like drops on forest leaves;And we look up to where the pleasant skyKisses the thunder-caps, and drink the song.
Words in this poem
- relentless a.
- Unmoved by appeals for sympathy or forgiveness; insensible to the distresses of others; destitute of tenderness; unrelenting; unyielding; unpitying; as, a prey to relentless despotism.
- greed n.
- An eager desire or longing; greediness; as, a greed of gain. [Akin to Goth. grdus hunger, Icel. graedhr. sq. root34. See Greedy.]
- throb v. i.
- To beat, or pulsate, with more than usual force or rapidity; to beat in consequence of agitation; to palpitate; -- said of the heart, pulse, etc. [OE. ; of uncertain origin; cf. Russ. trepete a trembling, and E. trepidation.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Prelude is in the public domain. This text is taken from Bitter-Sweet: A Poem, Project Gutenberg ebook #6442; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: J. G. Holland, Prelude, in Bitter-Sweet (1858), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6442, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/holland-bitter-sweet/prelude.html, id L23251.
Form and metre
Prelude is 27 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 -------A-------A-- this · cloak · alone · face · soul · throng · eyes · caravanA · night · hearth · heart · thanks · throb · content · smiles · fanA · cheeks · play
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Doubt takes to wings on such a night as this; | 10 | ·········· |
| And while the traveler hugs her fluttering cloak, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And staggers o'er the weary waste alone, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Beneath a pitiless heaven, they flap his face, | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| And wheel above, or hunt his fainting soul, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| As, with relentless greed, a vulture throng, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| With their lank shadows mock the glazing eyes | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Of the last camel of the caravan. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And Faith takes forms and wings on such a night. | 10 | ·········· |
| Where love burns brightly at the household hearth, | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| And from the altar of each peaceful heart | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Ascends the fragrant incense of its thanks, | 10 | ˘/·/˘/···· |
| And every pulse with sympathetic throb | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Tells the true rhythm of trustfulest content, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| They flutter in and out, and touch to smiles | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The sleeping lips of infancy; and fan | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| The blush that lights the modest maiden's cheeks; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And toss the locks of children at their play. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Silence is vocal if we listen well; | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| And Life and Being sing in dullest ears | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| From morn to night, from night to morn again, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| With fine articulations; but when God | 10 | ···˘˘/˘··· |
| Disturbs the soul with terror, or inspires | 10 | ˘/···/˘·˘/ |
| With a great joy, the words of Doubt and Faith | 10 | ·········· |
| Sound quick and sharp like drops on forest leaves; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And we look up to where the pleasant sky | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Kisses the thunder-caps, and drink the song. | 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.