O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell
O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell,Let it not be among the jumbled heapOf murky buildings; climb with me the steep,--Nature's observatory--whence the dell,Its flowery slopes, its river's crystal swell,May seem a span; let me thy vigils keep'Mongst boughs pavillion'd, where the deer's swift leapStartles the wild bee from the fox-glove bell.But though I'll gladly trace these scenes with thee,Yet the sweet converse of an innocent mind,Whose words are images of thoughts refin'd,Is my soul's pleasure; and it sure must beAlmost the highest bliss of human-kind,When to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee.
Words in this poem
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- dell n.
- A small, retired valley; a ravine. [AS. del, akin to E. dale; cf. D. delle, del, low ground. See Dale.]
- gladly adv.
- Preferably; by choice. [From Glad, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell 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, O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell, in Poems (1817) (1817), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8209, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/keats-1817/o-solitude-if-i-must-with-thee-dwell.html, id L20520.
Form and metre
O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 ABBAABBACDDCDC dwellA · heapB · steepB · dellA · swellA · keepB · leapB · bellA · theeC · mindD · refin'dD · beC · kindD · fleeC
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.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Let it not be among the jumbled heap | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of murky buildings; climb with me the steep,-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Nature's observatory--whence the dell, | 10 | /˘˘/˘·˘··· |
| Its flowery slopes, its river's crystal swell, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| May seem a span; let me thy vigils keep | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| 'Mongst boughs pavillion'd, where the deer's swift leap | 10 | ·········· |
| Startles the wild bee from the fox-glove bell. | 10 | /˘········ |
| But though I'll gladly trace these scenes with thee, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Yet the sweet converse of an innocent mind, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Whose words are images of thoughts refin'd, | 10 | ···/˘˘··˘/ |
| Is my soul's pleasure; and it sure must be | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Almost the highest bliss of human-kind, | 10 | /··/˘··/˘· |
| When to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee. | 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.