Written on Revisiting Brunswick in the Summer of 1875
Among the many lives that I have known,None I remember more serene and sweet,More rounded in itself and more complete,Than his, who lies beneath this funeral stone.These pines, that murmur in low monotone,These walks frequented by scholastic feet,Were all his world; but in this calm retreatFor him the Teacher's chair became a throne.With fond affection memory loves to dwellOn the old days, when his example madeA pastime of the toil of tongue and pen;And now, amid the groves he loved so wellThat naught could lure him from their grateful shade,He sleeps, but wakes elsewhere, for God hath said, Amen!
Words in this poem
- monotone n.
- A single unvaried tone or sound. [See Monotonous, Monotony.]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- pastime n.
- That which amuses, and serves to make time pass agreeably; sport; amusement; diversion. [Pass + time: cf. F. passetemps.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- amen interj.
- An expression used at the end of prayers, and meaning, So be it. At the end of a creed, it is a solemn asseveration of belief. [L. amen, Gr. am certainly, truly.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Written on Revisiting Brunswick in the Summer of 1875 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, Written on Revisiting Brunswick in the Summer of 1875, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/written-on-revisiting-brunswick-in-the-summer-of-1875.html, id L17759.
Form and metre
Written on Revisiting Brunswick in the Summer of 1875 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 87%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 29% 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 knownA · sweetB · completeB · stoneA · monotoneA · feetB · retreatB · throneA · dwellC · madeD · penE · wellC · shadeD · amenE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Among the many lives that I have known, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| None I remember more serene and sweet, | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/·· |
| More rounded in itself and more complete, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/··˘/ |
| Than his, who lies beneath this funeral stone. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| These pines, that murmur in low monotone, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| These walks frequented by scholastic feet, | 10 | ··/˘˘·˘/˘· |
| Were all his world; but in this calm retreat | 10 | ········˘/ |
| For him the Teacher's chair became a throne. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| With fond affection memory loves to dwell | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| On the old days, when his example made | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| A pastime of the toil of tongue and pen; | 10 | ·/········ |
| And now, amid the groves he loved so well | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| That naught could lure him from their grateful shade, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| He sleeps, but wakes elsewhere, for God hath said, Amen! | 12 | ····/·····˘/ |
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.