The Dungeon
And this place our forefathers made for man!This is the process of our love and wisdom,To each poor brother who offends against us--Most innocent, perhaps--and what if guilty?Is this the only cure? Merciful God?Each pore and natural outlet shrivell’d upBy ignorance and parching poverty,His energies roll back upon his heart,And stagnate and corrupt; till changed to poison,They break out on him, like a loathsome plague-spot;Then we call in our pamper’d mountebanks--And this is their best cure! uncomfortedAnd friendless solitude, groaning and tears,And savage faces, at the clanking hour,Seen through the steams and vapour of his dungeon,By the lamp’s dismal twilight! So he liesCircled with evil, till his very soulUnmoulds its essence, hopelessly deformedBy sights of ever more deformity!
With other ministrations thou, O nature!Healest thy wandering and distempered child:Thou pourest on him thy soft influences,Thy sunny hues, fair forms, and breathing sweets,Thy melodies of woods, and winds, and waters,Till he relent, and can no more endureTo be a jarring and a dissonant thing,Amid this general dance and minstrelsy;But, bursting into tears, wins back his way,His angry spirit healed and harmonizedBy the benignant touch of love and beauty.
Words in this poem 15
- parching a.
- Scorching; burning; drying.
- stagnate v. i.
- To cease to flow; to be motionless; as, blood stagnates in the veins of an animal; hence, to become impure or foul by want of motion; as, air stagnates in a close room. [L. stagnatus, p.p. of stagnare to stagnate, make stagnant, from stagnum a piece of standing water. See Stank a pool, and cf. Stanch, v. t.]
- friendless a.
- Destitute of friends; forsaken. [AS. freóndleás.]
- vapour n.
- Any substance in the gaseous, or aëriform, state, the condition of which is ordinarily that of a liquid or solid. [OE. vapour, OF. vapour, vapor, vapeur, F. vapeur, L. vapor; probably for cvapor, and akin to Gr. kvepti to breathe, smell, Russ. kopote fine soot. Cf. Vapid.]
- dungeon n.
- A close, dark prison, commondonjon or keep of a castle, these being used as prisons. [OE. donjoun highest tower of a castle, tower, prison, F. donjon tower or platform in the midst of a castle, turret, or closet on the top of a house, a keep of a]
- dismal a.
- Fatal; ill-omened; unlucky. [Formerly a noun; e. g., "I trow it was in the dismalle." Chaucer. Of uncertain origin; but perh. (as suggested by Skeat) from OF. disme, F. dîme, tithe, the phr]
- circled a.
- Having the form of a circle; round.
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- relent v. i.
- To become less rigid or hard; to yield; to dissolve; to melt; to deliquesce. [F. ralentir, fr. L. pref. re- re- + ad to + lentus pliant, flexible, slow. See Lithe.]
- jarring a.
- Shaking; disturbing; discordant. [See Jar.]
- dissonant a.
- Sounding harshly; discordant; unharmonious. [L. dissonans, -antis, p. pr. of dissonare to disagree in sound, be discordant; dis- + sonare to sound: cf. F. dissonant. See Sonant.]
- 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]
- minstrelsy n.
- The arts and occupation of minstrels; the singing and playing of a minstrel.
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- benignant a.
- Kind; gracious; favorable. [LL. benignans, p. pr. of benignare, from L. benignus. See Benign.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Dungeon is in the public domain. This text is taken from Lyrical Ballads, With a Few Other Poems (1798), Project Gutenberg ebook #9622; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Wordsworth, The Dungeon, in Lyrical Ballads (1798), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9622, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lyrical-ballads/the-dungeon.html, id L02858.
Form and metre
The Dungeon is 30 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 83% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 11 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 23% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| And this place our forefathers made for man! | 10 | ···//·˘··· |
| This is the process of our love and wisdom, | 11 | ···/··/··/˘ |
| To each poor brother who offends against us-- | 11 | ···/˘·˘/··· |
| Most innocent, perhaps--and what if guilty? | 10 | ·/˘˘/···/˘ |
| Is this the only cure? Merciful God? | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| Each pore and natural outlet shrivell’d up | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| By ignorance and parching poverty, | 9 | ·/˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| His energies roll back upon his heart, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| And stagnate and corrupt; till changed to poison, | 11 | ·/··˘/···/˘ |
| They break out on him, like a loathsome plague-spot; | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Then we call in our pamper’d mountebanks-- | 10 | ····//˘··· |
| And this is their best cure! uncomforted | 10 | ·········· |
| And friendless solitude, groaning and tears, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·/˘·· |
| And savage faces, at the clanking hour, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘/ |
| Seen through the steams and vapour of his dungeon, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| By the lamp’s dismal twilight! So he lies | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| Circled with evil, till his very soul | 9 | /˘·/··/˘· |
| Unmoulds its essence, hopelessly deformed | 9 | ···/˘/˘˘/ |
| By sights of ever more deformity! | 9 | ···/·˘/˘˘ |
| With other ministrations thou, O nature! | 11 | ·/˘·˘/˘··/˘ |
| Healest thy wandering and distempered child: | 10 | /˘·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Thou pourest on him thy soft influences, | 10 | ·/˘····/·˘ |
| Thy sunny hues, fair forms, and breathing sweets, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Thy melodies of woods, and winds, and waters, | 10 | ·/˘·····/˘ |
| Till he relent, and can no more endure | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| To be a jarring and a dissonant thing, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Amid this general dance and minstrelsy; | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘˘ |
| But, bursting into tears, wins back his way, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| His angry spirit healed and harmonized | 9 | ·/˘/··/˘· |
| By the benignant touch of love and beauty. | 11 | ··˘/˘····/˘ |
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