An Ode I. 1
Many there be, who, through the vale of life,With velvet pace, unnoticed, softly go,While jarring discord's inharmonious strifeAwakes them not to woe.By them unheeded, carking care,Green-eyed grief and dull despair;Smoothly they pursue their way,With even tenor and with equal breath,Alike through cloudy and through sunny day,Then sink in peace to death.
Words in this poem
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- jarring a.
- Shaking; disturbing; discordant. [See Jar.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- carking a.
- Distressing; worrying; perplexing; corroding; as, carking cares.
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
An Ode I. 1 is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Henry Kirk White : With a Memoir by Sir Harris Nicolas, Project Gutenberg ebook #7149; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Kirke White, An Ode I. 1, in The Poetical Works of Henry Kirke White (1803–1806), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7149, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kirke-white-poems/an-ode-i-1.html, id L10100.
Form and metre
An Ode I. 1 is 10 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCCDEDE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 10% 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 ABABCCDEDE lifeA · goB · strifeA · woeB · careC · despairC · wayD · breathE · dayD · deathE
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 there be, who, through the vale of life, | 10 | /˘········ |
| With velvet pace, unnoticed, softly go, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘· |
| While jarring discord's inharmonious strife | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Awakes them not to woe. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| By them unheeded, carking care, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Green-eyed grief and dull despair; | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Smoothly they pursue their way, | 7 | /˘·˘/·· |
| With even tenor and with equal breath, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Alike through cloudy and through sunny day, | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| Then sink in peace to death. | 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.