Fragments
Neglected record of a mind neglected,Unto what "lets and stops" art thou subjected!The day with all its toils and occupations,The night with its reflections and sensations,The future, and the present, and the past,--All I remember, feel, and hope at last,All shapes of joy and sorrow, as they pass,--Find but a dusty image in this glass.
O faithful, indefatigable tides,That evermore upon God's errands go,--Now seaward bearing tidings of the land,--Now landward bearing tidings of the sea,--And filling every frith and estuary,Each arm of the great sea, each little creek,Each thread and filament of water-courses,Full with your ministration of delight!Under the rafters of this wooden bridgeI see you come and go; sometimes in hasteTo reach your journey's end, which being doneWith feet unrested ye return againAnd recommence the never-ending task;Patient, whatever burdens ye may bear,And fretted only by the impeding rocks.
Soft through the silent air descend the feathery snow-flakes;White are the distant hills, white are the neighboring fields;Only the marshes are brown, and the river rolling among themWeareth the leaden hue seen in the eyes of the blind.
So from the bosom of darkness our days come roaring and gleaming,Chafe and break into foam, sink into darkness again.But on the shores of Time each leaves some trace of its passage,Though the succeeding wave washes it out from the sand.
Words in this poem
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
- seaward a.
- Directed or situated toward the sea. Donne.
- landward adv.
- Toward the land.
- frith n.
- A forest; a woody place. Drayton. [OE. frith peace, protection, land inclosed for hunting, park, forest, AS. fri peace; akin to freno peace, protection, asylum, G. friede peace, Icel. fri, and fr]
- ministration n.
- The act of ministering; service; ministry. [L. ministratio, fr. ministrare.]
- recommence v. i.
- To commence or begin again. Howell.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fragments 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, Fragments, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/fragments.html, id L17851.
Form and metre
Fragments is 31 lines in 4 stanzas. 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.2 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 16% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AABBCCDD neglectedA · subjectedA · occupationsB · sensationsB · pastC · lastC · passD · glassD
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Neglected record of a mind neglected, | 11 | ˘/˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| Unto what "lets and stops" art thou subjected! | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| The day with all its toils and occupations, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| The night with its reflections and sensations, | 11 | ····˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| The future, and the present, and the past,-- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| All I remember, feel, and hope at last, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| All shapes of joy and sorrow, as they pass,-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Find but a dusty image in this glass. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| O faithful, indefatigable tides, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| That evermore upon God's errands go,-- | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Now seaward bearing tidings of the land,-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Now landward bearing tidings of the sea,-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| And filling every frith and estuary, | 11 | ·/˘/˘··/˘·˘ |
| Each arm of the great sea, each little creek, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Each thread and filament of water-courses, | 10 | ···/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Full with your ministration of delight! | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| Under the rafters of this wooden bridge | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| I see you come and go; sometimes in haste | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| To reach your journey's end, which being done | 9 | ···/˘··/· |
| With feet unrested ye return again | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘/ |
| And recommence the never-ending task; | 9 | ·····//˘· |
| Patient, whatever burdens ye may bear, | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| And fretted only by the impeding rocks. | 11 | ·/˘/˘··˘/˘· |
| Soft through the silent air descend the feathery snow-flakes; | 13 | ···/˘·˘/·/˘·· |
| White are the distant hills, white are the neighboring fields; | 12 | ···/˘····/˘· |
| Only the marshes are brown, and the river rolling among them | 16 | /˘·/˘····/˘/˘··· |
| Weareth the leaden hue seen in the eyes of the blind. | 13 | /˘·/˘········ |
| So from the bosom of darkness our days come roaring and gleaming, | 16 | ···/˘·/˘/··/˘·/˘ |
| Chafe and break into foam, sink into darkness again. | 13 | ·········/˘˘/ |
| But on the shores of Time each leaves some trace of its passage, | 14 | ············/˘ |
| Though the succeeding wave washes it out from the sand. | 13 | ··˘/˘·/˘····· |
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.