To My Brother George
Many the wonders I this day have seen:The sun, when first he kist away the tearsThat fill'd the eyes of morn;--the laurel'd peersWho from the feathery gold of evening lean:--The ocean with its vastness, its blue green,Its ships, its rocks, its caves, its hopes, its fears,--Its voice mysterious, which whoso hearsMust think on what will be, and what has been.E'en now, dear George, while this for you I write,Cynthia is from her silken curtains peepingSo scantly, that it seems her bridal night,And she her half-discover'd revels keeping.But what, without the social thought of thee,Would be the wonders of the sky and sea?
Words in this poem
- kist n.
- A chest; hence, a coffin. Jamieson. [See Chest.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- whoso pron.
- Whosoever. Piers Plowman.
- scantly adv.
- In a scant manner; not fully or sufficiently; narrowly; penuriously.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To My Brother George 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, To My Brother George, in Poems (1817) (1817), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8209, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/keats-1817/to-my-brother-george-2.html, id L20515.
Form and metre
To My Brother George is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 20 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 32% 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 ABBAABB-CDCDEE seenA · tearsB · peersB · leanA · greenA · fearsB · hearsB · been · writeC · peepingD · nightC · keepingD · theeE · seaE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Many the wonders I this day have seen: | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| The sun, when first he kist away the tears | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| That fill'd the eyes of morn;--the laurel'd peers | 10 | ·········· |
| Who from the feathery gold of evening lean:-- | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The ocean with its vastness, its blue green, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Its ships, its rocks, its caves, its hopes, its fears,-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Its voice mysterious, which whoso hears | 10 | ··˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Must think on what will be, and what has been. | 10 | ·········· |
| E'en now, dear George, while this for you I write, | 10 | ·········· |
| Cynthia is from her silken curtains peeping | 11 | /˘···/˘/˘/˘ |
| So scantly, that it seems her bridal night, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And she her half-discover'd revels keeping. | 11 | ····˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| But what, without the social thought of thee, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Would be the wonders of the sky and sea? | 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.