Mezzo Cammin
Half of my life is gone, and I have letThe years slip from me and have not fulfilledThe aspiration of my youth, to buildSome tower of song with lofty parapet.Not indolence, nor pleasure, nor the fretOf restless passions chat would not be stilled,But sorrow, and a care that almost killed,Kept me from what I may accomplish yet;Though, half way up the hill, I see the PastLying beneath me with its sounds and sights,--A city in the twilight dim and vast,With smoking roofs, soft bells, and gleaming lights.--And hear above me on the autumnal blastThe cataract of Death far thundering from the heights.
Words in this poem
- aspiration n.
- The act of aspirating; the pronunciation of a letter with a full or strong emission of breath; an aspirated sound. [L. aspiratio, fr. aspirare: cf. F. aspiration.]
- indolence n.
- Freedom from that which pains, or harasses, as toil, care, grief, etc. [L. indolentia freedom from pain: cf. F. indolence.]
- thundering a.
- Emitting thunder.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Mezzo Cammin 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, Mezzo Cammin, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/mezzo-cammin.html, id L17541.
Form and metre
Mezzo Cammin is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDCD, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 43% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other Italian sonnets, 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 ABBAABBACDCDCD letA · fulfilledB · buildB · parapetA · fretA · stilledB · killedB · yetA · pastC · sightsD · vastC · lightsD · blastC · heightsD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Half of my life is gone, and I have let | 10 | ·········· |
| The years slip from me and have not fulfilled | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The aspiration of my youth, to build | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Some tower of song with lofty parapet. | 10 | ·/···/˘/˘· |
| Not indolence, nor pleasure, nor the fret | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| Of restless passions chat would not be stilled, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| But sorrow, and a care that almost killed, | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| Kept me from what I may accomplish yet; | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Though, half way up the hill, I see the Past | 10 | ·········· |
| Lying beneath me with its sounds and sights,-- | 10 | /˘········ |
| A city in the twilight dim and vast, | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| With smoking roofs, soft bells, and gleaming lights.-- | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And hear above me on the autumnal blast | 11 | ·······˘/˘· |
| The cataract of Death far thundering from the heights. | 11 | ·/˘···/˘··· |
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.