Poem XIX
He spoke abrupt across my dream: "Dear Garden,A stranger to your magic peace, I standBeyond your walls, lost in a fevered landOf stones and fire. Would that the gods would hardenMy soul against its torment, or would blindThose yearning glimpses of a life at restIn perfect beauty--glimpses at the bestThrough unpassed bars. And here, without, the windOf scattering passion blows: and women passGlitter-eyed down putrid alleys where the glassOf some grimed window suddenly parades--Ah, sickening heart-beat of desire!--the graceOf bare and milk-warm flesh: the vision fades,And at the pane shows a blind tortured face."
Words in this poem
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- sickening a.
- Causing sickness; specif., causing surfeit or disgust; nauseating.
- pane n.
- The narrow edge of a hammer head. See Peen. [F. panne.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poem XIX is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Defeat of Youth, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #24364; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Aldous Huxley, Poem XIX, in The Defeat of Youth, and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #24364, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/huxley-defeat-of-youth/poem-xix.html, id L22004.
Form and metre
Poem XIX is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBACDDCEEFGFG. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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 ABBACDDCEEFGFG gardenA · standB · landB · hardenA · blindC · restD · bestD · windC · passE · glassE · paradesF · graceG · fadesF · faceG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| He spoke abrupt across my dream: "Dear Garden, | 11 | ··˘/˘/···/˘ |
| A stranger to your magic peace, I stand | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Beyond your walls, lost in a fevered land | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of stones and fire. Would that the gods would harden | 11 | ···/·····/˘ |
| My soul against its torment, or would blind | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Those yearning glimpses of a life at rest | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| In perfect beauty--glimpses at the best | 10 | ·/·/˘/˘··· |
| Through unpassed bars. And here, without, the wind | 10 | ·········· |
| Of scattering passion blows: and women pass | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Glitter-eyed down putrid alleys where the glass | 11 | /˘··/˘/˘··· |
| Of some grimed window suddenly parades-- | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| Ah, sickening heart-beat of desire!--the grace | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Of bare and milk-warm flesh: the vision fades, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And at the pane shows a blind tortured face." | 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.