To an Enthusiast
Young ardent soul, graced with fair Nature's truth,Spring warmth of heart, and fervency of mind,And still a large late love of all thy kind.Spite of the world's cold practice and Time's tooth,--For all these gifts, I know not, in fair sooth,Whether to give thee joy, or bid thee blindThine eyes with tears,--that thou hast not resign'dThe passionate fire and freshness of thy youth:For as the current of thy life shall flow,Gilded by shine of sun or shadow-stain'd,Through flow'ry valley or unwholesome fen,Thrice blessed in thy joy, or in thy woeThrice cursed of thy race,--thou art ordain'dTo share beyond the lot of common men.
Words in this poem
- graced a.
- Endowed with grace; beautiful; full of graces; honorable.
- fervency n.
- The state of being fervent or warm; ardor; warmth of feeling or devotion; eagerness. [Cf. OF. fervence. See Fervent.]
- sooth a.
- True; faithful; trustworthy. [OE. soth, AS. s, for san; akin to OS. s, OHG. sand, Icel. sannr, Sw. sann, Dan. sand, Skr. sat, sant, real, genuine, present, being; properly p. pr. from a root]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- 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,]
- cursed a.
- Deserving a curse; execrable; hateful; detestable; abominable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To an Enthusiast is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood, Project Gutenberg ebook #15652; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Hood, To an Enthusiast, in The Song of the Shirt, and Other Poems (1826–1845), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15652, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hood-poetical-works/to-an-enthusiast.html, id L20059.
Form and metre
To an Enthusiast is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDECDE, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See other Italian sonnets, 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 ABBAABBACDECDE truthA · mindB · kindB · toothA · soothA · blindB · resign'dB · youthA · flowC · stain'dD · fenE · woeC · ordain'dD · menE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Young ardent soul, graced with fair Nature's truth, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Spring warmth of heart, and fervency of mind, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| And still a large late love of all thy kind. | 10 | ·········· |
| Spite of the world's cold practice and Time's tooth,-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For all these gifts, I know not, in fair sooth, | 10 | ·········· |
| Whether to give thee joy, or bid thee blind | 10 | ·········· |
| Thine eyes with tears,--that thou hast not resign'd | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The passionate fire and freshness of thy youth: | 10 | ·/˘/·/˘··· |
| For as the current of thy life shall flow, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Gilded by shine of sun or shadow-stain'd, | 10 | /˘·····/·· |
| Through flow'ry valley or unwholesome fen, | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Thrice blessed in thy joy, or in thy woe | 10 | ··˘······· |
| Thrice cursed of thy race,--thou art ordain'd | 10 | ··˘·····˘/ |
| To share beyond the lot of common men. | 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.