Madness
The lonely farm, the crowded street,The palace and the slum,Give welcome to my silent feetAs, bearing gifts, I come.
Last night a beggar crouched alone,A ragged helpless thing;I set him on a moonbeam throne --Today he is a king.
Last night a king in orb and crownHeld court with splendid cheer;Today he tears his purple gownAnd moans and shrieks in fear.
Not iron bars, nor flashing spears,Not land, nor sky, nor sea,Nor love's artillery of tearsCan keep mine own from me.
Serene, unchanging, ever fair,I smile with secret mirthAnd in a net of mine own hairI swing the captive earth.
Words in this poem
- crouched a.
- Marked with the sign of the cross. Crouched friar. See Crutched friar, under Crutched.
- moonbeam n.
- A ray of light from the moon.
- artillery n.
- Munitions of war; implements for warfare, as slings, bows, and arrows. [OE. artilrie, OF. artillerie, arteillerie, fr. LL. artillaria, artilleria, machines and apparatus of all kinds used in war, vans laden with arms of any kind whi]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Madness is in the public domain. This text is taken from Trees, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #263; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Joyce Kilmer, Madness, in Trees and Other Poems (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #263, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kilmer-trees/madness.html, id L12907.
Form and metre
Madness is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 30% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 ABAB streetA · slumB · feetA · comeB
- 2 ABAB aloneA · thingB · throneA · kingB
- 3 ABAB crownA · cheerB · gownA · fearB
- 4 ABAB spearsA · seaB · tearsA · meB
- 5 ABAB fairA · mirthB · hairA · earthB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The lonely farm, the crowded street, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The palace and the slum, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Give welcome to my silent feet | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| As, bearing gifts, I come. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Last night a beggar crouched alone, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| A ragged helpless thing; | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| I set him on a moonbeam throne -- | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Today he is a king. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Last night a king in orb and crown | 8 | ········ |
| Held court with splendid cheer; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Today he tears his purple gown | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| And moans and shrieks in fear. | 6 | ······ |
| Not iron bars, nor flashing spears, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Not land, nor sky, nor sea, | 6 | ······ |
| Nor love's artillery of tears | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| Can keep mine own from me. | 6 | ······ |
| Serene, unchanging, ever fair, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| I smile with secret mirth | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And in a net of mine own hair | 8 | ········ |
| I swing the captive earth. | 6 | ···/˘· |
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.