Interlude
Touched by the pathos of these rhymes,The Theologian said: "All praiseBe to the ballads of old timesAnd to the bards of simple ways,Who walked with Nature hand in hand,Whose country was their Holy Land,Whose singing robes were homespun brownFrom looms of their own native town,Which they were not ashamed to wear,And not of silk or sendal gay,Nor decked with fanciful arrayOf cockle-shells from Outre-Mer."
To whom the Student answered: "Yes;All praise and honor! I confessThat bread and ale, home-baked, home-brewed,Are wholesome and nutritious food,But not enough for all our needs;Poets--the best of them--are birdsOf passage; where their instinct leadsThey range abroad for thoughts and words,And from all climes bring home the seedsThat germinate in flowers or weeds.They are not fowls in barnyards bornTo cackle o'er a grain of corn;And, if you shut the horizon downTo the small limits of their town,What do you but degrade your bardTill he at last becomes as oneWho thinks the all-encircling sunRises and sets in his back yard?"
The Theologian said again:"It may be so; yet I maintainThat what is native still is best,And little care I for the rest.'T is a long story; time would failTo tell it, and the hour is late;We will not waste it in debate,But listen to our Landlord's tale."
And thus the sword of DamoclesDescending not by slow degrees,But suddenly, on the Landlord fell,Who blushing, and with much demurAnd many vain apologies,Plucking up heart, began to tellThe Rhyme of one Sir Christopher.
Words in this poem
- homespun a.
- Spun or wrought at home; of domestic manufacture; coarse; plain.
- sendal n.
- A light thin stuff of silk.
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- cackle v. i.
- To make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does. [OE. cakelen; cf. LG. kakeln, D. kakelen, G. gackeln, gackern; all of imitative origin. Cf. Gagle, Cake to cackle.]
- demur v. i.
- To linger; to stay; to tarry. [OF. demurer, demorer, demourer, to linger, stay, F. demeurer, fr. L. demorari; de- + morari to delay, tarry, stay, mora delay; prob. originally, time for thinki]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Interlude 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, Interlude, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/interlude-11.html, id L17703.
Form and metre
Interlude is 45 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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 ABABCCDDEFFE rhymesA · praiseB · timesA · waysB · handC · landC · brownD · townD · wearE · gayF · arrayF · merE
- 2 AABBCDCDCCEEFFGHHG yesA · confessA · brewedB · foodB · needsC · birdsD · leadsC · wordsD · seedsC · weedsC · bornE · cornE · downF · townF · bardG · oneH · sunH · yardG
- 3 AABBCDDC againA · maintainA · bestB · restB · failC · lateD · debateD · taleC
- 4 AAB-AB- damoclesA · degreesA · fellB · demur · apologiesA · tellB · christopher
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Touched by the pathos of these rhymes, | 9 | ·˘··/˘··· |
| The Theologian said: "All praise | 9 | ··˘/˘˘··· |
| Be to the ballads of old times | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And to the bards of simple ways, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Who walked with Nature hand in hand, | 9 | ··˘·/˘··· |
| Whose country was their Holy Land, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Whose singing robes were homespun brown | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| From looms of their own native town, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Which they were not ashamed to wear, | 9 | ····˘/˘·· |
| And not of silk or sendal gay, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Nor decked with fanciful array | 9 | ··˘·/˘˘˘/ |
| Of cockle-shells from Outre-Mer." | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To whom the Student answered: "Yes; | 9 | ···/˘/˘˘· |
| All praise and honor! I confess | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| That bread and ale, home-baked, home-brewed, | 10 | ······˘··˘ |
| Are wholesome and nutritious food, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| But not enough for all our needs; | 9 | ··˘/··/˘· |
| Poets--the best of them--are birds | 8 | /˘······ |
| Of passage; where their instinct leads | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| They range abroad for thoughts and words, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And from all climes bring home the seeds | 8 | ········ |
| That germinate in flowers or weeds. | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| They are not fowls in barnyards born | 8 | ·····/·· |
| To cackle o'er a grain of corn; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And, if you shut the horizon down | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| To the small limits of their town, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| What do you but degrade your bard | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Till he at last becomes as one | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Who thinks the all-encircling sun | 9 | ····˘/˘˘· |
| Rises and sets in his back yard?" | 8 | /˘······ |
| The Theologian said again: | 9 | ··˘/˘˘·˘/ |
| "It may be so; yet I maintain | 8 | ······˘/ |
| That what is native still is best, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And little care I for the rest. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| 'T is a long story; time would fail | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| To tell it, and the hour is late; | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| We will not waste it in debate, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| But listen to our Landlord's tale." | 9 | ·/˘·/˘/·· |
| And thus the sword of Damocles | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Descending not by slow degrees, | 8 | ˘/˘···˘/ |
| But suddenly, on the Landlord fell, | 9 | ·/˘˘··/·· |
| Who blushing, and with much demur | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And many vain apologies, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Plucking up heart, began to tell | 8 | /˘··˘/·· |
| The Rhyme of one Sir Christopher. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
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.