A Friend
His are the whitenesses of soul,That Virgil had: he walks the earthA classic saint, in self-control,And comeliness, and quiet mirth.
His presence wins me to repose:When he is with me, I forgetAll heaviness: and when he goes,The comfort of the sun is set.
But in the lonely hours I learn,How I can serve and thank him best:God! trouble him: that he may turnThrough sorrow to the only rest.
Words in this poem
- classic a.
- Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art. [L. classicus relating to the classes of the Roman people, and especially to the frist class; hence, of the first rank, superior, from classis class: cf. F. clas]
- heaviness n.
- The state or quality of being heavy in its various senses; weight; sadness; sluggishness; oppression; thickness.
- thank n.
- A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
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.html, id L12510.
Form and metre
A Friend is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABAB soulA · earthB · controlA · mirthB
- 2 ABAB reposeA · forgetB · goesA · setB
- 3 ABAB learnA · bestB · turnA · restB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| His are the whitenesses of soul, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| That Virgil had: he walks the earth | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A classic saint, in self-control, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And comeliness, and quiet mirth. | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| His presence wins me to repose: | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| When he is with me, I forget | 8 | ······˘/ |
| All heaviness: and when he goes, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| The comfort of the sun is set. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But in the lonely hours I learn, | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| How I can serve and thank him best: | 8 | ········ |
| God! trouble him: that he may turn | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Through sorrow to the only rest. | 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.