Stanzas
Thought is an unseen net wherein our mindIs taken and vainly struggles to be free:Words, that should loose our spirit, do but bindNew fetters on our hoped-for liberty:And action bears us onward like a streamPast fabulous shores, scarce seen in our swift course;Glorious--and yet its headlong currents seemBackwaters of some nobler purer force.
There are slow curves, more subtle far than thought,That stoop to carry the grace of a girl's breast;And hanging flowers, so exquisitely wroughtIn airy metal, that they seem possessedOf souls; and there are distant hills that liftThe shoulder of a goddess towards the light;And arrowy trees, sudden and sharp and swift,Piercing the spirit deeply with delight.
Would I might make these miracles my own!Like a pure angel, thinking colour and form,Hardening to rage in a flame of chiselled stone,Spilling my love like sunlight, golden and warmOn noonday flowers, speaking the song of birdsAmong the branches, whispering the fall of rain,Beyond all thought, past action and past words,I would live in beauty, free from self and pain.
Words in this poem
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- 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.]
- exquisitely adv.
- In an exquisite manner or degree; as, lace exquisitely wrought.
- arrowy a.
- Consisting of arrows.
- noonday n.
- Midday; twelve o'clock in the day; noon.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Stanzas 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, Stanzas, in The Defeat of Youth, and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #24364, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/huxley-defeat-of-youth/stanzas.html, id L22037.
Form and metre
Stanzas is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
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 A-A-BCBC mindA · free · bindA · liberty · streamB · courseC · seemB · forceC
- 2 ABABCDCD thoughtA · breastB · wroughtA · possessedB · liftC · lightD · swiftC · delightD
- 3 ABABCDCD ownA · formB · stoneA · warmB · birdsC · rainD · wordsC · painD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thought is an unseen net wherein our mind | 10 | ···˘/···/· |
| Is taken and vainly struggles to be free: | 11 | ·/˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Words, that should loose our spirit, do but bind | 10 | ····//˘··· |
| New fetters on our hoped-for liberty: | 11 | ·/˘·/˘··/˘˘ |
| And action bears us onward like a stream | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Past fabulous shores, scarce seen in our swift course; | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| Glorious--and yet its headlong currents seem | 10 | /˘···/·/˘· |
| Backwaters of some nobler purer force. | 10 | /·˘··/˘/˘· |
| There are slow curves, more subtle far than thought, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That stoop to carry the grace of a girl's breast; | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| And hanging flowers, so exquisitely wrought | 10 | ·/˘/··/˘˘· |
| In airy metal, that they seem possessed | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Of souls; and there are distant hills that lift | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The shoulder of a goddess towards the light; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And arrowy trees, sudden and sharp and swift, | 11 | ·/˘˘·/˘···· |
| Piercing the spirit deeply with delight. | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Would I might make these miracles my own! | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Like a pure angel, thinking colour and form, | 11 | ···/˘/˘/˘·· |
| Hardening to rage in a flame of chiselled stone, | 11 | /˘······/˘· |
| Spilling my love like sunlight, golden and warm | 11 | /˘···/·/˘·· |
| On noonday flowers, speaking the song of birds | 10 | ·/˘//˘···· |
| Among the branches, whispering the fall of rain, | 11 | ···/˘/˘···· |
| Beyond all thought, past action and past words, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I would live in beauty, free from self and pain. | 11 | ····/˘····· |
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.