The Leaden-eyed
Let not young souls be smothered out beforeThey do quaint deeds and fully flaunt their pride.It is the world's one crime its babes grow dull,Its poor are ox-like, limp and leaden-eyed.Not that they starve, but starve so dreamlessly,Not that they sow, but that they seldom reap,Not that they serve, but have no gods to serve,Not that they die, but that they die like sheep.
Words in this poem
- quaint a.
- Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. [OE. queint, queynte, coint, prudent, wise, cunning, pretty, odd, OF. cointe cultivated, amiable, agreeable, neat, fr. L. cognitus known, p. p. of cognoscere to ]
- flaunt n.
- Anything displayed for show.
- reap n.
- A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. Wright. [Cf. AS. rip harvest. See Reap, v.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Leaden-eyed is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Congo, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1021; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Vachel Lindsay, The Leaden-eyed, in The Congo and Other Poems (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1021, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lindsay-congo/the-leaden-eyed.html, id L00952.
Form and metre
The Leaden-eyed is 8 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 12% 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-B-B before · prideA · dull · eyedA · dreamlessly · reapB · serve · sheepB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Let not young souls be smothered out before | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| They do quaint deeds and fully flaunt their pride. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| It is the world's one crime its babes grow dull, | 10 | ·········· |
| Its poor are ox-like, limp and leaden-eyed. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Not that they starve, but starve so dreamlessly, | 10 | ·········· |
| Not that they sow, but that they seldom reap, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Not that they serve, but have no gods to serve, | 10 | ·········· |
| Not that they die, but that they die like sheep. | 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.