Poem XXI
Streets and the solitude of country placesWere once his friends. But as a man born blind,Opening his eyes from lovely dreams, might findThe world a desert and men's larval facesSo hateful, he would wish to seek againThe darkness and his old chimeric sightOf beauties inward--so, that fresh delight,Vision of bright fields and angelic men,That love which made him all the world, is gone.Hating and hated now, he stands alone,An island-point, measureless gulfs apartFrom other lives, from the old happinessOf being more than self, when heart to heartGave all, yet grew the greater, not the less.
Words in this poem
- hateful a.
- Manifesting hate or hatred; malignant; malevolent.
- measureless a.
- Without measure; unlimited; immeasurable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poem XXI 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 XXI, 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-xxi.html, id L22006.
Form and metre
Poem XXI is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 ABBACDDC--EFEF placesA · blindB · findB · facesA · againC · sightD · delightD · menC · gone · alone · apartE · happinessF · heartE · lessF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Streets and the solitude of country places | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Were once his friends. But as a man born blind, | 10 | ·········· |
| Opening his eyes from lovely dreams, might find | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| The world a desert and men's larval faces | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| So hateful, he would wish to seek again | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| The darkness and his old chimeric sight | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Of beauties inward--so, that fresh delight, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Vision of bright fields and angelic men, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| That love which made him all the world, is gone. | 10 | ·········· |
| Hating and hated now, he stands alone, | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| An island-point, measureless gulfs apart | 10 | ·/˘·/˘˘·˘/ |
| From other lives, from the old happiness | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| Of being more than self, when heart to heart | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Gave all, yet grew the greater, not the less. | 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.