Plato in London
The pure flame of one taper fallOver the old and comely page:No harsher light disturb at allThis converse with a treasured sage.Seemly, and fair, and of the best,If Plato be our guest,Should things befall.
Without, a world of noise and cold:Here, the soft burning of the fire.And Plato walks, where heavens unfold,About the home of his desire.From his own city of high things,He shows to us, and brings,Truth of fine gold.
The hours pass; and the fire burns low;The clear flame dwindles into death:Shut then the book with care; and so,Take leave of Plato, with hushed breath:A little, by the falling gleams,Tarry the gracious dreams:And they too go.
Lean from the window to the air:Hear London's voice upon the night!Thou hast bold converse with things rare:Look now upon another sight!The calm stars, in their living skies:And then, these surging cries,This restless glare!
That starry music, starry fire,High above all our noise and glare:The image of our long desire,The beauty, and the strength, are there.And Plato's thought lives, true and clear,In as august a sphere:Perchance, far higher.
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Plato in London 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, Plato in London, in Poems (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66520, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-lionel-poems/plato-in-london.html, id L12465.
Form and metre
Plato in London is 35 lines in 5 stanzas of 7 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCCA. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABABCCA fallA · pageB · allA · sageB · bestC · guestC · befallA
- 2 ABABCCA coldA · fireB · unfoldA · desireB · thingsC · bringsC · goldA
- 3 ABABCCA lowA · deathB · soA · breathB · gleamsC · dreamsC · goA
- 4 ABABCCA airA · nightB · rareA · sightB · skiesC · criesC · glareA
- 5 ABABCCA fireA · glareB · desireA · thereB · clearC · sphereC · higherA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The pure flame of one taper fall | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Over the old and comely page: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| No harsher light disturb at all | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| This converse with a treasured sage. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Seemly, and fair, and of the best, | 8 | /˘······ |
| If Plato be our guest, | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Should things befall. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Without, a world of noise and cold: | 8 | ········ |
| Here, the soft burning of the fire. | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| And Plato walks, where heavens unfold, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘/ |
| About the home of his desire. | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| From his own city of high things, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He shows to us, and brings, | 6 | ······ |
| Truth of fine gold. | 4 | ···· |
| The hours pass; and the fire burns low; | 8 | ·/···/·· |
| The clear flame dwindles into death: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Shut then the book with care; and so, | 8 | ········ |
| Take leave of Plato, with hushed breath: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A little, by the falling gleams, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Tarry the gracious dreams: | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| And they too go. | 4 | ···· |
| Lean from the window to the air: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Hear London's voice upon the night! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thou hast bold converse with things rare: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Look now upon another sight! | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The calm stars, in their living skies: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And then, these surging cries, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| This restless glare! | 4 | ·/˘· |
| That starry music, starry fire, | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| High above all our noise and glare: | 8 | ····/··· |
| The image of our long desire, | 9 | ·/˘·/·˘/˘ |
| The beauty, and the strength, are there. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And Plato's thought lives, true and clear, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In as august a sphere: | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Perchance, far higher. | 5 | ˘/·/˘ |
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.