To a Spanish Friend
Exiled in AmericaFrom thine old Castilia,Son of holy Avila!Leave thine endless tangled lore,As in childhood to imploreHer, whose pleading evermorePleads for her own Avila.
Seraph Saint, Teresa burnsBefore God, and burning turnsTo the Furnace, whence she learnsHow the Sun of Love is lit:She the Sunflower following it.O fair ardour infinite:Fire, for which the cold soul yearns!
Clad in everlasting fire,Flame of one long, lone desire,Surely thou too shalt aspireUp by Carmel's bitter road:Love thy goal and love thy goad,Love thy lightness and thy load,Love thy rose and love thy briar.
Leave the false light, leave the vain:Lose thyself in Night again,Night divine of perfect pain.Lose thyself, and find thy God,Through a prostrate period:Bruise thee with an iron rod;Suffer, till thyself be slain.
Fly thou from the dazzling day,For it lights the downward way:In the sacred Darkness pray,Till prayer cease, or seem to theeAgony of ecstasy:Dead to all men, dear to me,Live as saints, and die as they.
Stones and thorns shall tear and sting,Each stern step its passion bring,On the Way of Perfecting,On the Fourfold Way of Prayer:Heed not, though joy fill the air;Heed not, though it breathe despair:In the City thou shalt sing.
Without hope and without fear,Keep thyself from thyself clear:In the secret seventh sphereOf thy soul's hid Castle, thouAt the King's white throne shalt bow:Light of Light shall kiss thy brow,And all darkness disappear.
Words in this poem
- childhood n.
- The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty. [AS. cildhad; cild child + -had. See Child, and hood.]
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
- 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.]
- clad v.
- To clothe. Holland.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- aspire v. t.
- To aspire to; to long for; to try to reach; to mount to.
- briar n.
- A plant with a slender woody stem bearing stout prickles; especially, species of Rosa, Rubus, and Smilax. [OE. brere, brer, AS. brer, brær; cf. Ir. briar prickle, thorn, brier, pin, Gael. preas bush, brier, W. prys, prysg.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To a Spanish 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, To a Spanish Friend, in Poems (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66520, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-lionel-poems/to-a-spanish-friend.html, id L12527.
Form and metre
To a Spanish Friend is 49 lines in 7 stanzas of 7 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AAABBBA, complete in 4 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 --ABBBA america · castilia · avilaA · loreB · imploreB · evermoreB · avilaA
- 2 AAABBBA burnsA · turnsA · learnsA · litB · itB · infiniteB · yearnsA
- 3 AA-BBBA fireA · desireA · aspire · roadB · goadB · loadB · briarA
- 4 AAABBBA vainA · againA · painA · godB · periodB · rodB · slainA
- 5 AAAB-BA dayA · wayA · prayA · theeB · ecstasy · meB · theyA
- 6 AAABBBA stingA · bringA · perfectingA · prayerB · airB · despairB · singA
- 7 AAABBBA fearA · clearA · sphereA · thouB · bowB · browB · disappearA
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Exiled in America | 8 | /·˘·˘/˘˘ |
| From thine old Castilia, | 6 | ······ |
| Son of holy Avila! | 7 | ··/˘˘/˘ |
| Leave thine endless tangled lore, | 8 | ··/˘/˘˘· |
| As in childhood to implore | 7 | ··/··˘/ |
| Her, whose pleading evermore | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Pleads for her own Avila. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Seraph Saint, Teresa burns | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| Before God, and burning turns | 7 | ····/˘· |
| To the Furnace, whence she learns | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| How the Sun of Love is lit: | 7 | ······· |
| She the Sunflower following it. | 8 | ··/˘/˘˘· |
| O fair ardour infinite: | 7 | ··/˘/˘˘ |
| Fire, for which the cold soul yearns! | 8 | /˘······ |
| Clad in everlasting fire, | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| Flame of one long, lone desire, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Surely thou too shalt aspire | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Up by Carmel's bitter road: | 7 | ··˘//˘· |
| Love thy goal and love thy goad, | 7 | ······· |
| Love thy lightness and thy load, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Love thy rose and love thy briar. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Leave the false light, leave the vain: | 7 | ······· |
| Lose thyself in Night again, | 7 | ·˘/··˘/ |
| Night divine of perfect pain. | 7 | ·˘/·/·· |
| Lose thyself, and find thy God, | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Through a prostrate period: | 7 | ··/˘/˘˘ |
| Bruise thee with an iron rod; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Suffer, till thyself be slain. | 7 | /˘·˘/·· |
| Fly thou from the dazzling day, | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| For it lights the downward way: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| In the sacred Darkness pray, | 8 | ··/˘˘/˘· |
| Till prayer cease, or seem to thee | 7 | ······· |
| Agony of ecstasy: | 7 | /˘˘·/˘˘ |
| Dead to all men, dear to me, | 7 | ······· |
| Live as saints, and die as they. | 7 | ······· |
| Stones and thorns shall tear and sting, | 7 | ······· |
| Each stern step its passion bring, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| On the Way of Perfecting, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| On the Fourfold Way of Prayer: | 7 | ··//··· |
| Heed not, though joy fill the air; | 7 | ······· |
| Heed not, though it breathe despair: | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| In the City thou shalt sing. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Without hope and without fear, | 7 | ······· |
| Keep thyself from thyself clear: | 7 | ·˘/·˘/· |
| In the secret seventh sphere | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Of thy soul's hid Castle, thou | 7 | ····/˘· |
| At the King's white throne shalt bow: | 7 | ······· |
| Light of Light shall kiss thy brow, | 7 | ······· |
| And all darkness disappear. | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
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