A Friend
All, that he came to give,He gave, and went again:I have seen one man live,I have seen one man reign,With all the graces in his train.
As one of us, he wroughtThings of the common hour:Whence was the charmed soul brought,That gave each act such power;The natural beauty of a flower?
Magnificence and grace,Excellent courtesy:A brightness on the face,Airs of high memory:Whence came all these, to such as he?
Like young Shakespearian kings,He won the adoring throng:And, as Apollo sings,He triumphed with a song:Triumphed, and sang, and passed along.
With a light word, he tookThe hearts of men in thrall:And, with a golden look,Welcomed them, at his callGiving their love, their strength, their all.
No man less proud than he,Nor cared for homage less:Only, he could not beFar off from happiness:Nature was bound to his success.
Weary, the cares, the jars,The lets, of every day:But the heavens filled with stars,Chanced he upon the way:And where he stayed, all joy would stay.
Now, when sad night draws down,When the austere stars burn:Roaming the vast live town,My thoughts and memories yearnToward him, who never will return.
Yet have I seen him live,And owned my friend, a king:All that he came to give,He gave: and I, who singHis praise, bring all I have to bring.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- magnificence n.
- The act of doing what magnificent; the state or quality of being magnificent. Acts xix. 27. [F. magnificence, L. magnificentia. See Magnific.]
- stayed a.
- Staid; fixed; settled; sober; -- now written staid. See Staid.
- yearn v. t.
- To pain; to grieve; to vex. [Also earn, ern; probably a corruption of OE. ermen to grieve, AS. ierman, yrman, or geierman, geyrman, fr. earm wretched, poor; akin to D. & G. arm, Icel. armr,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Friend is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #66520; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Lionel Johnson, A Friend, in Poems (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66520, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-lionel-poems/a-friend-2.html, id L12468.
Form and metre
A Friend is 45 lines in 9 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABB, complete in 8 of its 9 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABABB giveA · againB · liveA · reignB · trainB
- 2 ABABB wroughtA · hourB · broughtA · powerB · flowerB
- 3 A-A-- graceA · courtesy · faceA · memory · he
- 4 ABABB kingsA · throngB · singsA · songB · alongB
- 5 ABABB tookA · thrallB · lookA · callB · allB
- 6 ABABB heA · lessB · beA · happinessB · successB
- 7 ABABB jarsA · dayB · starsA · wayB · stayB
- 8 ABABB downA · burnB · townA · yearnB · returnB
- 9 ABABB liveA · kingB · giveA · singB · bringB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| All, that he came to give, | 6 | ······ |
| He gave, and went again: | 6 | ····˘/ |
| I have seen one man live, | 6 | ······ |
| I have seen one man reign, | 6 | ······ |
| With all the graces in his train. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As one of us, he wrought | 6 | ······ |
| Things of the common hour: | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Whence was the charmed soul brought, | 6 | ······ |
| That gave each act such power; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The natural beauty of a flower? | 8 | ·/˘/˘··/ |
| Magnificence and grace, | 6 | ˘/˘˘·· |
| Excellent courtesy: | 6 | /˘˘/˘˘ |
| A brightness on the face, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Airs of high memory: | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Whence came all these, to such as he? | 8 | ········ |
| Like young Shakespearian kings, | 7 | ······· |
| He won the adoring throng: | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| And, as Apollo sings, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| He triumphed with a song: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Triumphed, and sang, and passed along. | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| With a light word, he took | 6 | ······ |
| The hearts of men in thrall: | 6 | ······ |
| And, with a golden look, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Welcomed them, at his call | 6 | /˘···· |
| Giving their love, their strength, their all. | 8 | /˘······ |
| No man less proud than he, | 6 | ······ |
| Nor cared for homage less: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Only, he could not be | 6 | /˘···· |
| Far off from happiness: | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Nature was bound to his success. | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| Weary, the cares, the jars, | 6 | /˘···· |
| The lets, of every day: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But the heavens filled with stars, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Chanced he upon the way: | 6 | ······ |
| And where he stayed, all joy would stay. | 8 | ········ |
| Now, when sad night draws down, | 6 | ······ |
| When the austere stars burn: | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Roaming the vast live town, | 6 | /˘···· |
| My thoughts and memories yearn | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Toward him, who never will return. | 8 | ····/·˘/ |
| Yet have I seen him live, | 6 | ······ |
| And owned my friend, a king: | 6 | ······ |
| All that he came to give, | 6 | ······ |
| He gave: and I, who sing | 6 | ······ |
| His praise, bring all I have to bring. | 8 | ········ |
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.