By Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe II
O'er all the hill-topsIs quiet now,In all the tree-topsHearest thouHardly a breath;The birds are asleep in the trees:Wait; soon like theseThou too shalt rest.
Words in this poem
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
By Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe II is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; 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 Wadsworth Longfellow, By Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe II, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/by-johann-wolfgang-von-goethe-ii.html, id L18066.
Form and metre
By Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe II is 8 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 4.6 syllables. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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 ABAB-CC- topsA · nowB · topsA · thouB · breath · treesC · theseC · rest
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O'er all the hill-tops | 5 | ····· |
| Is quiet now, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| In all the tree-tops | 5 | ····· |
| Hearest thou | 3 | /˘· |
| Hardly a breath; | 4 | /˘·· |
| The birds are asleep in the trees: | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| Wait; soon like these | 4 | ···· |
| Thou too shalt rest. | 4 | ···· |
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.