Laurel · Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · The Complete Poetical Works

Prelude

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) · 1839–1882

short measure · ABAB · 16 lines · from The Complete Poetical Works

As treasures that men seek,Deep-buried in sea-sands,Vanish if they but speak,And elude their eager hands,

So ye escape and slip,O songs, and fade away,When the word is on my lipTo interpret what ye say.

Were it not better, then,To let the treasures restHid from the eyes of men,Locked in their iron chest?

I have but marked the place,But half the secret told,That, following this slight trace,Others may find the gold.

About this text

Prelude 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, Prelude, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/prelude-2.html, id L18029.

Form and metre

Prelude is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is short measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.2 syllables. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in short measure.

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 ABAB seek^A · sands^B · speak^A · hands^B
2 ABAB slip^A · away^B · lip^A · say^B
3 ABAB then^A · rest^B · men^A · chest^B
4 ABAB place^A · told^B · trace^A · gold^B

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 short measure. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
As treasures that men seek,	6	·/˘···
Deep-buried in sea-sands,	6	·/˘···
Vanish if they but speak,	6	/˘····
And elude their eager hands,	7	·˘/·/˘·
So ye escape and slip,	6	··˘/··
O songs, and fade away,	6	····˘/
When the word is on my lip	7	·······
To interpret what ye say.	7	·˘/˘···
Were it not better, then,	6	···/˘·
To let the treasures rest	6	···/˘·
Hid from the eyes of men,	6	······
Locked in their iron chest?	6	···/˘·
I have but marked the place,	6	······
But half the secret told,	6	···/˘·
That, following this slight trace,	7	·/˘˘···
Others may find the gold.	6	/˘····

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.

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