The Poet Who Sleeps
One day, when I was young, I readAbout a poet, long since dead,Who fell asleep, as poets doIn writing--and make others too.But herein lies the story's gist,How a gay queen came up and kistThe sleeper.'Capital!' thought I.'A like good fortune let me try.'Many the things we poets feign.I feign'd to sleep, but tried in vain.I tost and turn'd from side to side,With open mouth and nostrils wide.At last there came a pretty maid,And gazed; then to myself I said,'Now for it!' She, instead of kiss,Cried, 'What a lazy lout is this!'
Words in this poem
- gist n.
- A resting place. [OF. giste abode, lodgings, F. gîte, fr. gésir to lie, L. jac, prop., to be thrown, hence, to lie, fr. jacre to throw. In the second sense fr. OF. gist, F. gît, ]
- kist n.
- A chest; hence, a coffin. Jamieson. [See Chest.]
- sleeper n.
- One who sleeps; a slumberer; hence, a drone, or lazy person.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Poet Who Sleeps is in the public domain. This text is taken from Imaginary Conversations and Poems: A Selection, Project Gutenberg ebook #21628; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Walter Savage Landor, The Poet Who Sleeps, in Imaginary Conversations and Poems (1795–1863), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21628, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/landor-poems/the-poet-who-sleeps.html, id L12211.
Form and metre
The Poet Who Sleeps is 17 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 18% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AABBCC-DDEEFF-AGG readA · deadA · doB · tooB · gistC · kistC · sleeper · iD · tryD · feignE · vainE · sideF · wideF · maid · saidA · kissG · thisG
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| One day, when I was young, I read | 8 | ········ |
| About a poet, long since dead, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Who fell asleep, as poets do | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| In writing--and make others too. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| But herein lies the story's gist, | 8 | ·˘/··/˘· |
| How a gay queen came up and kist | 8 | ········ |
| The sleeper. | 3 | ·/˘ |
| 'Capital!' thought I. | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| 'A like good fortune let me try.' | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Many the things we poets feign. | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| I feign'd to sleep, but tried in vain. | 8 | ········ |
| I tost and turn'd from side to side, | 8 | ········ |
| With open mouth and nostrils wide. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| At last there came a pretty maid, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And gazed; then to myself I said, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| 'Now for it!' She, instead of kiss, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Cried, 'What a lazy lout is this!' | 8 | ···/˘··· |
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.