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Something Left Undone

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

trochaic tetrameter · ABAB · 20 lines · from The Complete Poetical Works

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Labor with what zeal we will,Something still remains undone,Something uncompleted stillWaits the rising of the sun.

By the bedside, on the stair,At the threshold, near the gates,With its menace or its prayer,Like a mendicant it waits;

Waits, and will not go away;Waits, and will not be gainsaid;By the cares of yesterdayEach to-day is heavier made;

Till at length the burden seemsGreater than our strength can bear,Heavy as the weight of dreams,Pressing on us everywhere.

And we stand from day to day,Like the dwarfs of times gone by,Who, as Northern legends say,On their shoulders held the sky.

Words in this poem

undone a.
Not done or performed; neglected. [Pref. un- not + done.]
bedside n.
The side of a bed.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Something Left Undone 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, Something Left Undone, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/something-left-undone.html, id L17642.

Form and metre

Something Left Undone is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 15% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in trochaic 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. 1 ABAB willA · undoneB · stillA · sunB
  2. 2 ABAB stairA · gatesB · prayerA · waitsB
  3. 3 ABAB awayA · gainsaidB · yesterdayA · madeB
  4. 4 ABAB seemsA · bearB · dreamsA · everywhereB
  5. 5 ABAB dayA · byB · sayA · skyB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.

LineSyl.Stress
Labor with what zeal we will,7/˘·····
Something still remains undone,7/˘·˘/˘/
Something uncompleted still7/˘·˘/˘·
Waits the rising of the sun.7··/˘···
By the bedside, on the stair,7··/····
At the threshold, near the gates,7··/····
With its menace or its prayer,7··/˘···
Like a mendicant it waits;7··/˘˘··
Waits, and will not go away;7·····˘/
Waits, and will not be gainsaid;7·······
By the cares of yesterday7····/˘·
Each to-day is heavier made;8····/˘˘·
Till at length the burden seems7····/˘·
Greater than our strength can bear,8/˘·/˘···
Heavy as the weight of dreams,7/˘·····
Pressing on us everywhere.7/˘··/˘·
And we stand from day to day,7·······
Like the dwarfs of times gone by,7·······
Who, as Northern legends say,7··/˘/˘·
On their shoulders held the sky.7··/˘···

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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