On Leaving Some Friends at an Early Hour
Give me a golden pen, and let me leanOn heap'd up flowers, in regions clear, and far;Bring me a tablet whiter than a star,Or hand of hymning angel, when 'tis seenThe silver strings of heavenly harp atween:And let there glide by many a pearly car,Pink robes, and wavy hair, and diamond jar,And half discovered wings, and glances keen.The while let music wander round my ears.And as it reaches each delicious ending,Let me write down a line of glorious tone,And full of many wonders of the spheres:For what a height my spirit is contending!'Tis not content so soon to be alone.
Words in this poem
- hymning a.
- Praising with hymns; singing.
- atween adv.
- Between. Spenser. [See Atwain, and cf. Between.]
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On Leaving Some Friends at an Early Hour 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, On Leaving Some Friends at an Early Hour, in Poems (1817) (1817), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8209, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/keats-1817/on-leaving-some-friends-at-an-early-hour.html, id L20524.
Form and metre
On Leaving Some Friends at an Early Hour is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDECDE, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other Italian sonnets, 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 ABBAABBACDECDE leanA · farB · starB · seenA · atweenA · carB · jarB · keenA · earsC · endingD · toneE · spheresC · contendingD · aloneE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Give me a golden pen, and let me lean | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| On heap'd up flowers, in regions clear, and far; | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| Bring me a tablet whiter than a star, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Or hand of hymning angel, when 'tis seen | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The silver strings of heavenly harp atween: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| And let there glide by many a pearly car, | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| Pink robes, and wavy hair, and diamond jar, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And half discovered wings, and glances keen. | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| The while let music wander round my ears. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And as it reaches each delicious ending, | 11 | ···/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Let me write down a line of glorious tone, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And full of many wonders of the spheres: | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| For what a height my spirit is contending! | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| 'Tis not content so soon to be alone. | 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.