Nature
As a fond mother, when the day is o'er,Leads by the hand her little child to bed,Half willing, half reluctant to be led,And leave his broken playthings on the floor,Still gazing at them through the open door,Nor wholly reassured and comfortedBy promises of others in their stead,Which, though more splendid, may not please him more;So Nature deals with us, and takes awayOur playthings one by one, and by the handLeads us to rest so gently, that we goScarce knowing if we wish to go or stay,Being too full of sleep to understandHow far the unknown transcends the what we know.
Words in this poem
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Nature 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, Nature, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/nature.html, id L17753.
Form and metre
Nature is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 -AABBAABCDECDE o'er · bedA · ledA · floorB · doorB · comfortedA · steadA · moreB · awayC · handD · goE · stayC · understandD · knowE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As a fond mother, when the day is o'er, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Leads by the hand her little child to bed, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Half willing, half reluctant to be led, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| And leave his broken playthings on the floor, | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| Still gazing at them through the open door, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Nor wholly reassured and comforted | 9 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| By promises of others in their stead, | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| Which, though more splendid, may not please him more; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| So Nature deals with us, and takes away | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Our playthings one by one, and by the hand | 10 | //········ |
| Leads us to rest so gently, that we go | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Scarce knowing if we wish to go or stay, | 9 | ·/······· |
| Being too full of sleep to understand | 9 | /······˘/ |
| How far the unknown transcends the what we know. | 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.