Philosophy
Ere all the world had grown so drear,When I was young and you were here,’Mid summer roses in summer weather,What pleasant times we’ve had together!
We were not Phyllis, simple-sweet,And Corydon; we did not meetBy brook or meadow, but amongA Philistine and flippant throng
Which much we scorned; (less rigorousIt had no scorn at all for us!)How many an eve of sweet July,Heedless of Mrs. Grundy’s eye,
We’ve scaled the stairway’s topmost height,And sat there talking half the night;And, gazing on the crowd below,Thanked Fate and Heaven that made us so;--
To hold the pure delights of brainAbove light loves and sweet champagne.For, you and I, we did eschewThe egoistic “I” and “you;”
And all our observations ranOn Art and Letters, Life and Man.Proudly we sat, we two, on high,Throned in our Objectivity;
Scarce friends, not lovers (each avers),But sexless, safe Philosophers.
Dear Friend, you must not deem me lightIf, as I lie and muse to-night,I give a smile and not a sighTo thoughts of our Philosophy.
Words in this poem
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
- philistine n.
- A native or an inhabitant of ancient Philistia, a coast region of southern Palestine. [L. Philistinus, Heb. Phlishthi, pl. Phlishthim.]
- flippant a.
- Of smooth, fluent, and rapid speech; speaking with ease and rapidity; having a voluble tongue; talkative. [Prov. E. flip to move nimbly; cf. W. llipa soft, limber, pliant, or Icel. fleipa to babble, prattle. Cf. Flip, Fillip, Flap, Flipper.]
- scaled a.
- Covered with scales, or scalelike structures; -- said of a fish, a reptile, a moth, etc.
- stairway n.
- A flight of stairs or steps; a staircase.
- champagne n.
- A light wine, of several kinds, originally made in the province of Champagne, in France. [F. See Champaign.]
- eschew v. t.
- To shun; to avoid, as something wrong, or from a feeling of distaste; to keep one's self clear of. [OF. eschever, eschiver, eskiver, F. esquiver, fr. OHG. sciuhen, G. scheuen; akin to E. sky. See Shy, a.]
- egoistic a.
- Pertaining to egoism; imbued with egoism or excessive thoughts of self; self-loving.
- objectivity n.
- The state, quality, or relation of being objective; character of the object or of the objective. [Cf.F. objectivité.]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Philosophy is in the public domain. This text is taken from A London Plane-Tree, and Other Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #56974; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Amy Levy, Philosophy, in A London Plane-Tree, and Other Verse (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56974, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/levy-london-plane-tree/philosophy.html, id L21567.
Form and metre
Philosophy is 30 lines in 8 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 4 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 AABB drearA · hereA · weatherB · togetherB
- 2 AA-- sweetA · meetA · among · throng
- 3 AABB rigorousA · usA · julyB · eyeB
- 4 AABB heightA · nightA · belowB · soB
- 5 AABB brainA · champagneA · eschewB · youB
- 6 AA-- ranA · manA · high · objectivity
- 8 AA-- lightA · nightA · sigh · philosophy
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ere all the world had grown so drear, | 8 | ········ |
| When I was young and you were here, | 8 | ········ |
| ’Mid summer roses in summer weather, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·/˘/˘ |
| What pleasant times we’ve had together! | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| We were not Phyllis, simple-sweet, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And Corydon; we did not meet | 8 | ········ |
| By brook or meadow, but among | 8 | ···/···· |
| A Philistine and flippant throng | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Which much we scorned; (less rigorous | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| It had no scorn at all for us!) | 8 | ········ |
| How many an eve of sweet July, | 8 | ·/·····/ |
| Heedless of Mrs. Grundy’s eye, | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| We’ve scaled the stairway’s topmost height, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| And sat there talking half the night; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And, gazing on the crowd below, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thanked Fate and Heaven that made us so;-- | 8 | ···/···· |
| To hold the pure delights of brain | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Above light loves and sweet champagne. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| For, you and I, we did eschew | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The egoistic “I” and “you;” | 7 | ······· |
| And all our observations ran | 8 | ··/·˘/˘· |
| On Art and Letters, Life and Man. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Proudly we sat, we two, on high, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Throned in our Objectivity; | 9 | ··/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Scarce friends, not lovers (each avers), | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| But sexless, safe Philosophers. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Dear Friend, you must not deem me light | 8 | ········ |
| If, as I lie and muse to-night, | 8 | ········ |
| I give a smile and not a sigh | 8 | ········ |
| To thoughts of our Philosophy. | 9 | ···/˘˘/˘˘ |
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.