To the Spirit of Keats
Great soul, thou sittest with me in my room,Uplifting me with thy vast, quiet eyes,On whose full orbs, with kindly lustre, liesThe twilight warmth of ruddy ember-gloom:Thy clear, strong tones will oft bring sudden bloomOf hope secure, to him who lonely cries,Wrestling with the young poet's agonies,Neglect and scorn, which seem a certain doom:Yes! the few words which, like great thunderdrops,Thy large heart down to earth shook doubtfully,Thrilled by the inward lightning of its might,Serene and pure, like gushing joy of light,Shall track the eternal chords of Destiny,After the moon-led pulse of ocean stops.
Words in this poem
- lustre n.
- A period of five years; a lustrum. [L. lustrum: cf. F. lustre.]
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- doubtfully adv.
- In a doubtful manner.
- 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
To the Spirit of Keats is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of James Russell Lowell With biographical sketch by Nathan Haskell Dole, Project Gutenberg ebook #38520; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Russell Lowell, To the Spirit of Keats, in Poems (1844–1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38520, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lowell-james-russell-poems/to-the-spirit-of-keats.html, id L13748.
Form and metre
To the Spirit of Keats is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% 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 ABBAABBA--CC-- roomA · eyesB · liesB · gloomA · bloomA · criesB · agoniesB · doomA · thunderdrops · doubtfully · mightC · lightC · destiny · stops
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Great soul, thou sittest with me in my room, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Uplifting me with thy vast, quiet eyes, | 10 | /·˘····/˘· |
| On whose full orbs, with kindly lustre, lies | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| The twilight warmth of ruddy ember-gloom: | 10 | ·/···/˘/˘· |
| Thy clear, strong tones will oft bring sudden bloom | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of hope secure, to him who lonely cries, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Wrestling with the young poet's agonies, | 10 | /˘···/˘/˘˘ |
| Neglect and scorn, which seem a certain doom: | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| Yes! the few words which, like great thunderdrops, | 10 | ·········· |
| Thy large heart down to earth shook doubtfully, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Thrilled by the inward lightning of its might, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Serene and pure, like gushing joy of light, | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Shall track the eternal chords of Destiny, | 11 | ···˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| After the moon-led pulse of ocean stops. | 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.