Addressed to the Same

John Keats (1795–1821) · 1817

iambic pentameter · 14 lines · from Poems (1817)

Great spirits now on earth are sojourning;He of the cloud, the cataract, the lake,Who on Helvellyn's summit, wide awake,Catches his freshness from Archangel's wing:He of the rose, the violet, the spring.The social smile, the chain for Freedom's sake:And lo!--whose stedfastness would never takeA meaner sound than Raphael's whispering.And other spirits there are standing apartUpon the forehead of the age to come;These, these will give the world another heart,And other pulses. Hear ye not the humOf mighty workings?------------Listen awhile ye nations, and be dumb.

Words in this poem

sojourning n.
The act or state of one who sojourns.
awhile adv.
For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Addressed to the Same is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems 1817, Project Gutenberg ebook #8209; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: John Keats, Addressed to the Same, in Poems (1817) (1817), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8209, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/keats-1817/addressed-to-the-same.html, id L00414.

Form and metre

Addressed to the Same is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 85% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in iambic pentameter.

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. 1 ABBAABBACDCD-D sojourningA · lakeB · awakeB · wingA · springA · sakeB · takeB · whisperingA · apartC · comeD · heartC · humD · workings · dumbD
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 pentameter. How this is done.

LineSyl.Stress
Great spirits now on earth are sojourning;10·/˘····/˘˘
He of the cloud, the cataract, the lake,10·····/˘˘··
Who on Helvellyn's summit, wide awake,10·····/˘·˘/
Catches his freshness from Archangel's wing:10/˘·/˘··/˘·
He of the rose, the violet, the spring.10·····/˘˘··
The social smile, the chain for Freedom's sake:10·/˘····/˘·
And lo!--whose stedfastness would never take10·······/˘·
A meaner sound than Raphael's whispering.11·/˘···˘//˘˘
And other spirits there are standing apart11·/˘/˘··/˘˘/
Upon the forehead of the age to come;10···/˘·····
These, these will give the world another heart,10······˘/˘·
And other pulses. Hear ye not the hum10·/˘/˘·····
Of mighty workings?------------5·/˘/˘
Listen awhile ye nations, and be dumb.10/˘˘/·/˘···

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.

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