An Ode I. 2
Lament not ye, who humbly steal through life.That Genius visits not your lowly shed;For, ah, what woes and sorrows ever rifeDistract his hapless head!For him awaits no balmy sleep,He wakes all night, and wakes to weep;Or by his lonely lamp he sitsAt solemn midnight, when the peasant sleeps,In feverish study, and in moody fitsHis mournful vigils keeps.
Words in this poem
- humbly adv.
- With humility; lowly.
- rife a.
- Prevailing; prevalent; abounding. [AS. rif abundant, or Icel. rifr munificent; akin to OD. riff, rijve, abundant.]
- distract a.
- Separated; drawn asunder. [L. distractus, p. p. of distrahere to draw asunder; dis- + trahere to draw. See Trace, and cf. Distraught.]
- hapless a.
- Without hap or luck; luckless; unfortunate; unlucky; unhappy; as, hapless youth; hapless maid.
- balmy a.
- Having the qualities of balm; odoriferous; aromatic; assuaging; soothing; refreshing; mild.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
An Ode I. 2 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. 2, 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-2.html, id L10103.
Form and metre
An Ode I. 2 is 10 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCCDEDE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.6 syllables. 30% 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 · shedB · rifeA · headB · sleepC · weepC · sitsD · sleepsE · fitsD · keepsE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lament not ye, who humbly steal through life. | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| That Genius visits not your lowly shed; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| For, ah, what woes and sorrows ever rife | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Distract his hapless head! | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| For him awaits no balmy sleep, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| He wakes all night, and wakes to weep; | 8 | ········ |
| Or by his lonely lamp he sits | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| At solemn midnight, when the peasant sleeps, | 10 | ·/˘/···/˘· |
| In feverish study, and in moody fits | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| His mournful vigils keeps. | 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.