The Comet
THE Comet! He is on his way,And singing as he flies;The whizzing planets shrink beforeThe spectre of the skies;Ah! well may regal orbs burn blue,And satellites turn pale,Ten million cubic miles of head,Ten billion leagues of tail!
On, on by whistling spheres of lightHe flashes and he flames;He turns not to the left nor right,He asks them not their names;One spurn from his demoniac heel,--Away, away they fly,Where darkness might be bottled upAnd sold for "Tyrian dye."
And what would happen to the land,And how would look the sea,If in the bearded devil's pathOur earth should chance to be?Full hot and high the sea would boil,Full red the forests gleam;Methought I saw and heard it allIn a dyspeptic dream!
I saw a tutor take his tubeThe Comet's course to spy;I heard a scream,--the gathered raysHad stewed the tutor's eye;I saw a fort,--the soldiers allWere armed with goggles green;Pop cracked the guns! whiz flew the balls!Bang went the magazine!
I saw a poet dip a scrollEach moment in a tub,I read upon the warping back,"The Dream of Beelzebub;"He could not see his verses burn,Although his brain was fried,And ever and anon he bentTo wet them as they dried.
I saw the scalding pitch roll downThe crackling, sweating pines,And streams of smoke, like water-spouts,Burst through the rumbling mines;I asked the firemen why they madeSuch noise about the town;They answered not,--but all the whileThe brakes went up and down.
I saw a roasting pullet sitUpon a baking egg;I saw a cripple scorch his handExtinguishing his leg;I saw nine geese upon the wingTowards the frozen pole,And every mother's gosling fellCrisped to a crackling coal.
I saw the ox that browsed the grassWrithe in the blistering rays,The herbage in his shrinking jawsWas all a fiery blaze;I saw huge fishes, boiled to rags,Bob through the bubbling brine;And thoughts of supper crossed my soul;I had been rash at mine.
Strange sights! strange sounds! Oh fearful dream!Its memory haunts me still,The steaming sea, the crimson glare,That wreathed each wooded hill;Stranger! if through thy reeling brainSuch midnight visions sweep,Spare, spare, oh, spare thine evening meal,And sweet shall be thy sleep!
Words in this poem 19
- spectre n.
- Something preternaturally visible; an apparition; a ghost; a phantom. [F. spectre, fr. L. spectrum an appearance, image, specter, fr. specere to look. See Spy, and cf. Spectrum.]
- billion n.
- According to the French and American method of numeration, a thousand millions, or 1,000,000,000; according to the English method, a million millions, or 1,000,000,000,000. See Numeration. [F. billion, arbitrarily formed fr. L. bis twice, in imitation of million a million. See Million.]
- spurn v. t.
- To drive back or away, as with the foot; to kick. [OE. spurnen to kick against, to stumble over, AS. spurnan to kick, offend; akin to spura spur, OS. & OHG. spurnan to kick, Icel. spyrna, L. spernere to despise,]
- bottled a.
- Put into bottles; inclosed in bottles; pent up in, or as in, a bottle.
- tyrian a.
- Of or pertaining to Tyre or its people.
- dyspeptic a.
- Pertaining to dyspepsia; having dyspepsia; as, a dyspeptic or dyspeptical symptom.
- cracked a.
- Coarsely ground or broken; as, cracked wheat.
- whiz v. i.
- To make a humming or hissing sound, like an arrow or ball flying through the air; to fly or move swiftly with a sharp hissing or whistling sound. [Of imitative origin. Whistle, and Hiss.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- warping n.
- The act or process of one who, or that which, warps.
- beelzebub n.
- The title of a heathen deity to whom the Jews ascribed the sovereignty of the evil spirits; hence, the Devil or a devil. See Baal.
- anon adv.
- Straightway; at once. [OE. anoon, anon, anan, lit., in one (moment), fr. AS. on in + an one. See On and One.]
- rumbling
- a. & n. from Rumble, v. i.
- pullet n.
- A young hen, or female of the domestic fowl. Pullet sperm, the treadle of an egg. [OE. polete, OF. polete, F. poulette, dim. of poule a hen, fr. L. pullus a young animal, a young fowl. See Foal, and cf. Poult, Poultry, Pool stake.]
- cripple n.
- One who creeps, halts, or limps; one who has lost, or never had, the use of a limb or limbs; a lame person; hence, one who is partially disabled. [OE. cripel, crepel, crupel, AS. crypel (akin to D. kreuple, G. kr, Dan. kr, Icel. kryppill), prop., one that can not walk, but must creep, fr. AS. cre to creep.]
- scorch v. t.
- To burn superficially; to parch, or shrivel, the surface of, by heat; to subject to so much heat as changes color and texture without consuming; as, to scorch linen. [OE. scorchen, probably akin to scorcnen; cf. Norw. skrokken shrunk up, skrekka, skrökka, to shrink, to become wrinkled up, dial. Sw. skråkkla to wrinkle (see Sh]
- gosling n.
- A young or unfledged goose. [AS. g goose + -ling.]
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Comet is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 01: Earlier Poems (1830-1836), Project Gutenberg ebook #7388; 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, The Comet, in Poetical Works, Volume I (1830–1848), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7388, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/holmes-poems/the-comet.html, id L00468.
Form and metre
The Comet is 72 lines in 9 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 28% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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-B way · fliesA · before · skiesA · blue · paleB · head · tailB
- 2 ABAB-C-C lightA · flamesB · rightA · namesB · heel · flyC · up · dyeC
- 3 -A-A-B-B land · seaA · path · beA · boil · gleamB · all · dreamB
- 4 -A-A-B-B tube · spyA · rays · eyeA · all · greenB · balls · magazineB
- 5 -----A-A scroll · tub · back · beelzebub · burn · friedA · bent · driedA
- 6 AB-B-A-A downA · pinesB · spouts · minesB · made · townA · while · downA
- 7 -A-A-B-B sit · eggA · hand · legA · wing · poleB · fell · coalB
- 8 -A-A-B-B grass · raysA · jaws · blazeA · rags · brineB · soul · mineB
- 9 -A-A-B-B dream · stillA · glare · hillA · brain · sweepB · meal · sleepB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| THE Comet! He is on his way, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And singing as he flies; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The whizzing planets shrink before | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The spectre of the skies; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Ah! well may regal orbs burn blue, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And satellites turn pale, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Ten million cubic miles of head, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Ten billion leagues of tail! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| On, on by whistling spheres of light | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He flashes and he flames; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| He turns not to the left nor right, | 8 | ········ |
| He asks them not their names; | 6 | ······ |
| One spurn from his demoniac heel,-- | 9 | ····˘/˘˘· |
| Away, away they fly, | 6 | ˘/˘/·· |
| Where darkness might be bottled up | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
| And sold for "Tyrian dye." | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| And what would happen to the land, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And how would look the sea, | 6 | ······ |
| If in the bearded devil's path | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Our earth should chance to be? | 7 | /˘····· |
| Full hot and high the sea would boil, | 8 | ········ |
| Full red the forests gleam; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Methought I saw and heard it all | 8 | ˘/······ |
| In a dyspeptic dream! | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| I saw a tutor take his tube | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The Comet's course to spy; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I heard a scream,--the gathered rays | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| Had stewed the tutor's eye; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I saw a fort,--the soldiers all | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Were armed with goggles green; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Pop cracked the guns! whiz flew the balls! | 9 | ··˘······ |
| Bang went the magazine! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I saw a poet dip a scroll | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Each moment in a tub, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I read upon the warping back, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| "The Dream of Beelzebub;" | 7 | ···˘/˘˘ |
| He could not see his verses burn, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Although his brain was fried, | 6 | ······ |
| And ever and anon he bent | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| To wet them as they dried. | 6 | ······ |
| I saw the scalding pitch roll down | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The crackling, sweating pines, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And streams of smoke, like water-spouts, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Burst through the rumbling mines; | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| I asked the firemen why they made | 9 | ··˘·/˘··· |
| Such noise about the town; | 6 | ······ |
| They answered not,--but all the while | 9 | ·/˘˘····· |
| The brakes went up and down. | 6 | ······ |
| I saw a roasting pullet sit | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Upon a baking egg; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I saw a cripple scorch his hand | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Extinguishing his leg; | 6 | ˘/˘˘·· |
| I saw nine geese upon the wing | 8 | ········ |
| Towards the frozen pole, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And every mother's gosling fell | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘/˘· |
| Crisped to a crackling coal. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I saw the ox that browsed the grass | 9 | ······˘·· |
| Writhe in the blistering rays, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| The herbage in his shrinking jaws | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Was all a fiery blaze; | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| I saw huge fishes, boiled to rags, | 9 | ···/˘·˘·· |
| Bob through the bubbling brine; | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| And thoughts of supper crossed my soul; | 9 | ···/˘·˘·· |
| I had been rash at mine. | 6 | ······ |
| Strange sights! strange sounds! Oh fearful dream! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Its memory haunts me still, | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| The steaming sea, the crimson glare, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That wreathed each wooded hill; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Stranger! if through thy reeling brain | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Such midnight visions sweep, | 6 | ·/·/˘· |
| Spare, spare, oh, spare thine evening meal, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And sweet shall be thy sleep! | 6 | ······ |
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.