Changed
From the outskirts of the townWhere of old the mile-stone stood.Now a stranger, looking downI behold the shadowy crownOf the dark and haunted wood.
Is it changed, or am I changed?Ah! the oaks are fresh and green,But the friends with whom I rangedThrough their thickets are estrangedBy the years that intervene.
Bright as ever flows the sea,Bright as ever shines the sun,But alas! they seem to meNot the sun that used to be,Not the tides that used to run.
Words in this poem
- haunted a.
- Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Changed 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, Changed, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/changed.html, id L17723.
Form and metre
Changed is 15 lines in 3 stanzas of 5 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 40% 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 ABAAB townA · stoodB · downA · crownA · woodB
- 2 ABAAB changedA · greenB · rangedA · estrangedA · interveneB
- 3 ABAAB seaA · sunB · meA · beA · runB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| From the outskirts of the town | 7 | ··/···· |
| Where of old the mile-stone stood. | 7 | ······· |
| Now a stranger, looking down | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| I behold the shadowy crown | 8 | ·˘/·/˘˘· |
| Of the dark and haunted wood. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Is it changed, or am I changed? | 7 | ······· |
| Ah! the oaks are fresh and green, | 7 | ······· |
| But the friends with whom I ranged | 7 | ······· |
| Through their thickets are estranged | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| By the years that intervene. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Bright as ever flows the sea, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Bright as ever shines the sun, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| But alas! they seem to me | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Not the sun that used to be, | 7 | ······· |
| Not the tides that used to run. | 7 | ······· |
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.