Poem XVIII
I had forgotten what I had lightly said,And without speech, without a thought I went,Steeped in that golden quiet, all contentTo drink the transient beauty as it spedOut of eternal darkness into timeTo light and burn and know itself a fire;Yet doomed--ah, fate of the fulfilled desire!--To fade, a meteor, paying for the crimeOf living glorious in the denser airOf our material earth. A strange despair,An agony, yet strangely, subtly sweetAnd tender as an unpassionate caress,Filled me ... Oh laughter! youth's conceitGrown almost conscious of youth's feebleness!
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- strangely adv.
- As something foreign, or not one's own; in a manner adapted to something foreign and strange.
- subtly adv.
- In a subtle manner; slyly; artfully; cunningly.
- unpassionate a.
- Not passionate; dispassionate.
- caress n.
- An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness. [F. caresse, It. carezza, LL. caritia dearness, fr. L. carus dear. See Charity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poem XVIII 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 XVIII, 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-xviii.html, id L22003.
Form and metre
Poem XVIII is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBACDDCEEFGFG. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%).
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 saidA · wentB · contentB · spedA · timeC · fireD · desireD · crimeC · airE · despairE · sweetF · caressG · conceitF · feeblenessG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I had forgotten what I had lightly said, | 11 | ··˘/˘···/˘· |
| And without speech, without a thought I went, | 10 | ·········· |
| Steeped in that golden quiet, all content | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| To drink the transient beauty as it sped | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Out of eternal darkness into time | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| To light and burn and know itself a fire; | 11 | ······˘/·/˘ |
| Yet doomed--ah, fate of the fulfilled desire!-- | 11 | ······˘/˘/˘ |
| To fade, a meteor, paying for the crime | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Of living glorious in the denser air | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Of our material earth. A strange despair, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| An agony, yet strangely, subtly sweet | 10 | ·/˘·/˘/˘˘· |
| And tender as an unpassionate caress, | 11 | ·/˘··˘/˘˘˘/ |
| Filled me ... Oh laughter! youth's conceit | 9 | ·˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Grown almost conscious of youth's feebleness! | 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.