Alone
ALONE! no climber of an Alpine cliff,No Arctic venturer on the waveless sea,Feels the dread stillness round him as it chillsThe heart of him who leaves the slumbering earthTo watch the silent worlds that crowd the sky.Alone! And as the shepherd leaves his flockTo feed upon the hillside, he meanwhileFinds converse in the warblings of the pipeHimself has fashioned for his vacant hour,So have I grown companion to myself,And to the wandering spirits of the airThat smile and whisper round us in our dreams.Thus have I learned to search if I may knowThe whence and why of all beneath the starsAnd all beyond them, and to weigh my lifeAs in a balance,--poising good and illAgainst each other,--asking of the PowerThat flung me forth among the whirling worlds,If I am heir to any inborn right,Or only as an atom of the dustThat every wind may blow where'er it will.
Words in this poem
- climber v. i.
- To climb; to mount with effort; to clamber. Tusser. [From Climb; cf. Clamber.]
- venturer n.
- One who ventures, or puts to hazard; an adventurer. Beau. & Fl.
- waveless a.
- Free from waves; undisturbed; not agitated; as, the waveless sea.
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- meanwhile n.
- The intervening time; as, in the meantime (or mean time).
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Alone is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 06 Poems from the Breakfast Table Series, Project Gutenberg ebook #7393; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Alone, in Poems from the Breakfast-Table Series (1858), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7393, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/holmes-breakfast-table-poems/alone.html, id L23587.
Form and metre
Alone is 21 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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---B------CB---C cliff · seaA · chills · earth · skyA · flock · meanwhile · pipe · hourB · myself · air · dreams · know · stars · life · illC · powerB · worlds · right · dust · willC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ALONE! no climber of an Alpine cliff, | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/·· |
| No Arctic venturer on the waveless sea, | 11 | ·/˘/˘˘··/˘· |
| Feels the dread stillness round him as it chills | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The heart of him who leaves the slumbering earth | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To watch the silent worlds that crowd the sky. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Alone! And as the shepherd leaves his flock | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| To feed upon the hillside, he meanwhile | 10 | ·····/··/· |
| Finds converse in the warblings of the pipe | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Himself has fashioned for his vacant hour, | 11 | ˘/·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| So have I grown companion to myself, | 10 | ····˘/˘··/ |
| And to the wandering spirits of the air | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| That smile and whisper round us in our dreams. | 10 | ···/˘···/· |
| Thus have I learned to search if I may know | 10 | ·········· |
| The whence and why of all beneath the stars | 10 | ·········· |
| And all beyond them, and to weigh my life | 10 | ·········· |
| As in a balance,--poising good and ill | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Against each other,--asking of the Power | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| That flung me forth among the whirling worlds, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| If I am heir to any inborn right, | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| Or only as an atom of the dust | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| That every wind may blow where'er it will. | 11 | ·/˘···˘˘/·· |
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.