Wherefore?
Deep languor overcometh mind and frame:A listless, drowsy, utter weariness,A trance wherein no thought finds speech or name,
The overstrained spirit doth possess.She sinks with drooping wing--poor unfledged bird,That fain had flown!--in fluttering breathlessness.
To what end those high hopes that wildly stirredThe beating heart with aspirations vain?Why proffer prayers unanswered and unheard
To blank, deaf heavens that will not heed her pain?Where lead these lofty, soaring tendencies,That leap and fly and poise, to fall again,
Yet seem to link her with the utmost skies?What mean these clinging loves that bind to earth,And claim her with beseeching, wistful eyes?
This little resting-place 'twixt death and birth,Why is it fretted with the ceaseless flowOf flood and ebb, with overgrowth and dearth,
And vext with dreams, and clouded with strange woe?Ah! she is tired of thought, she yearns for peace,Seeing all things one equal end must know.
Wherefore this tangle of perplexities,The trouble or the joy? the weary mazeOf narrow fears and hopes that may not cease?
A chill falls on her from the skyey ways,Black with the night-tide, where is none to hearThe ancient cry, the Wherefore of our days.
Words in this poem
- listless a.
- Having no desire or inclination; indifferent; heedless; spiritless. [OE. listles, lustles. See Lust.]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- breathlessness n.
- The state of being breathless or out of breath.
- unanswered a.
- Not answered; not replied; as, an unanswered letter.
- unheard a.
- Not heard; not perceived by the ear; as, words unheard by those present.
- wistful a.
- Longing; wishful; desirous. [For wishful; perhaps influenced by wistly, which is probably corrupted from OE. wisly certainly (from Icel. viss certain, akin to E. wit). See Wish.]
- ceaseless a.
- Without pause or end; incessant.
- overgrowth n.
- Excessive growth.
- dearth n.
- Scarcity which renders dear; want; lack; specifically, lack of food on account of failure of crops; famine. [OE. derthe, fr. dere. See Dear.]
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- tangle v. t.
- To unite or knit together confusedly; to interweave or interlock, as threads, so as to make it difficult to unravel the knot; to entangle; to ravel. [A frequentative fr. tang seaweed; hence, to twist like seaweed. See Tang seaweed, and cf. Tangle, n.]
- maze n.
- A wild fancy; a confused notion. [OE. mase; cf. OE. masen to confuse, puzzle, Norweg. masast to fall into a slumber, masa to be continually busy, prate, chatter, Icel. masa to chatter, dial. Sw.]
- skyey a.
- Like the sky; ethereal; being in the sky.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Wherefore? is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Emma Lazarus, Volume 1, Project Gutenberg ebook #3295; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Emma Lazarus, Wherefore?, in Poems, Volume I (1867–1887), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3295, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lazarus-poems/wherefore.html, id L01890.
Form and metre
Wherefore? is 27 lines in 9 stanzas of 3 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 4 lines end 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 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 A-A frameA · weariness · nameA
- 2 -B- possess · birdB · breathlessness
- 3 BCB stirredB · vainC · unheardB
- 4 C-- painC · tendencies · again
- 5 DED skiesD · earthE · eyesD
- 6 EFE birthE · flowF · dearthE
- 7 FGF woeF · peaceG · knowF
- 8 -HG perplexities · mazeH · ceaseG
- 9 H-H waysH · hear · daysH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Deep languor overcometh mind and frame: | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘··· |
| A listless, drowsy, utter weariness, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| A trance wherein no thought finds speech or name, | 10 | ·········· |
| The overstrained spirit doth possess. | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| She sinks with drooping wing--poor unfledged bird, | 10 | ···/˘··˘/· |
| That fain had flown!--in fluttering breathlessness. | 11 | ·····/˘˘/˘˘ |
| To what end those high hopes that wildly stirred | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The beating heart with aspirations vain? | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Why proffer prayers unanswered and unheard | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| To blank, deaf heavens that will not heed her pain? | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Where lead these lofty, soaring tendencies, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| That leap and fly and poise, to fall again, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Yet seem to link her with the utmost skies? | 10 | ·······/·· |
| What mean these clinging loves that bind to earth, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And claim her with beseeching, wistful eyes? | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| This little resting-place 'twixt death and birth, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Why is it fretted with the ceaseless flow | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Of flood and ebb, with overgrowth and dearth, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| And vext with dreams, and clouded with strange woe? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Ah! she is tired of thought, she yearns for peace, | 10 | ···/······ |
| Seeing all things one equal end must know. | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Wherefore this tangle of perplexities, | 10 | /˘·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| The trouble or the joy? the weary maze | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Of narrow fears and hopes that may not cease? | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| A chill falls on her from the skyey ways, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Black with the night-tide, where is none to hear | 10 | ·········· |
| The ancient cry, the Wherefore of our days. | 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.