Possibilities
Where are the Poets, unto whom belongThe Olympian heights; whose singing shafts were sentStraight to the mark, and not from bows half bent,But with the utmost tension of the thong?Where are the stately argosies of song,Whose rushing keels made music as they wentSailing in search of some new continent,With all sail set, and steady winds and strong?Perhaps there lives some dreamy boy, untaughtIn schools, some graduate of the field or street,Who shall become a master of the art,An admiral sailing the high seas of thought,Fearless and first and steering with his fleetFor lands not yet laid down in any chart.
Words in this poem
- keels n.
- Ninepins. See Kayles.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- continent a.
- Serving to restrain or limit; restraining; opposing. [L. continens, -entis, prop., p. pr. of continere to hold together, to repress: cf. F. continent. See Contain.]
- dreamy a.
- Abounding in dreams or given to dreaming; appropriate to, or like, dreams; visionary.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Possibilities 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, Possibilities, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/possibilities.html, id L17846.
Form and metre
Possibilities is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDECDE, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 92% 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 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 ABBAABBACDECDE belongA · sentB · bentB · thongA · songA · wentB · continentB · strongA · untaughtC · streetD · artE · thoughtC · fleetD · chartE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Where are the Poets, unto whom belong | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| The Olympian heights; whose singing shafts were sent | 11 | ·˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Straight to the mark, and not from bows half bent, | 10 | ·········· |
| But with the utmost tension of the thong? | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| Where are the stately argosies of song, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| Whose rushing keels made music as they went | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Sailing in search of some new continent, | 10 | /˘·····/˘˘ |
| With all sail set, and steady winds and strong? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Perhaps there lives some dreamy boy, untaught | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| In schools, some graduate of the field or street, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Who shall become a master of the art, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| An admiral sailing the high seas of thought, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Fearless and first and steering with his fleet | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| For lands not yet laid down in any chart. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
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.