A Proselyte
Heart of magnificent desire:O equal of the lordly sun!Since thou hast cast on me thy fire,My cloistral peace, so hardly won,Breaks from its trance:One glanceFrom thee hath all its joy undone.
Of lonely quiet was my dream;Day gliding into fellow day,With the mere motion of a stream:But now in vehement disarrayGo time and thought,DistraughtWith passion kindled at thy ray.
Heart of tumultuary might,O greater than the mountain flame,That leaps upon the fearful night!On me thy devastation came,Sudden and swift;A giftOf joyous torment without name.
Thy spirit stings my spirit: thouTakest by storm and ecstasyThe cloister of my soul. And now,With ardour that is agony,I do thy will;Yet stillHear voices of calm memory.
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- cloistral a.
- Of, pertaining to, or confined in, a cloister; recluse.
- undone a.
- Not done or performed; neglected. [Pref. un- not + done.]
- disarray v. t.
- To throw into disorder; to break the array of. [Pref. dis- + array, v.: cf. OF. desarroyer, desarreier.]
- distraught p. p.
- Torn asunder; separated. [OE. distract, distrauht. See Distract, a.]
- tumultuary a.
- Attended by, or producing, a tumult; disorderly; promiscuous; confused; tumultuous. [L. tumultuarius: cf. F. tumultuaire.]
- ardour n.
- Heat, in a literal sense; as, the ardor of the sun's rays. [L. ardor, fr. ardere to burn: cf. OF. ardor, ardur, F. ardeur.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Proselyte 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 Proselyte, in Poems (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66520, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-lionel-poems/a-proselyte.html, id L12549.
Form and metre
A Proselyte is 28 lines in 4 stanzas of 7 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCCB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.6 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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 ABABCCB desireA · sunB · fireA · wonB · tranceC · glanceC · undoneB
- 2 ABABCCB dreamA · dayB · streamA · disarrayB · thoughtC · distraughtC · rayB
- 3 ABABCCB mightA · flameB · nightA · cameB · swiftC · giftC · nameB
- 4 A-A-BB- thouA · ecstasy · nowA · agony · willB · stillB · memory
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Heart of magnificent desire: | 9 | ··˘/˘˘˘/˘ |
| O equal of the lordly sun! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Since thou hast cast on me thy fire, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| My cloistral peace, so hardly won, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Breaks from its trance: | 4 | ···· |
| One glance | 2 | ·· |
| From thee hath all its joy undone. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Of lonely quiet was my dream; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Day gliding into fellow day, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| With the mere motion of a stream: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But now in vehement disarray | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Go time and thought, | 4 | ···· |
| Distraught | 2 | ˘/ |
| With passion kindled at thy ray. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Heart of tumultuary might, | 8 | ··˘/˘˘˘· |
| O greater than the mountain flame, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That leaps upon the fearful night! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| On me thy devastation came, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Sudden and swift; | 4 | /˘·· |
| A gift | 2 | ·· |
| Of joyous torment without name. | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| Thy spirit stings my spirit: thou | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Takest by storm and ecstasy | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| The cloister of my soul. And now, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With ardour that is agony, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| I do thy will; | 4 | ···· |
| Yet still | 2 | ·· |
| Hear voices of calm memory. | 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.