Poet-Lore
The poet is forever youngAnd speaks the one immortal tongue.To him the wonder never dies,For youth is looking through his eyes.Pale listener at the heart of things,He hears the voices and the wings:He hears the skylark overhead—Hears the far footfalls of the dead.
When the swift Muses seize their child,Then God has gladness rich and wild;For when the bard is caught and hurled,A splendor breaks across the world.His song distils a saving powerFrom foot-worn stone, from wayside flower.
He knows the gospel of the trees,The whispered message of the seas;Finds in some beetle on the roadA power to lift the human load;Sees, in some dead leaf dried and curled,The deeper meaning of the world;Hears through the roar of mortal thingsThe God’s immortal whisperings;Sees the world-wonder rise and fall,And knows that Beauty made it all.
He walks the circle of the sun,And sees the bright Powers laugh and run.He feels the motion of the sphere,And builds his song in sacred fear.He finds the faithful witness hidIn poppy-head and Pyramid.The Golden Heaven or the Pit—He shakes the music out of it.All things yield up their souls to himFrom dateless dust to seraphim.
Words in this poem
- skylark n.
- A lark that mounts and sings as it files, especially the common species (Alauda arvensis) found in Europe and in some parts of Asia, and celebrated for its melodious song; -- called also sky laverock.
- wayside n.
- The side of the way; the edge or border of a road or path.
- dateless a.
- Without date; having no fixed time.
- seraphim n.
- The Hebrew plural of Seraph. Cf. Cherubim.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poet-Lore is in the public domain. This text is taken from Lincoln & other poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #54527; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edwin Markham, Poet-Lore, in Lincoln and Other Poems (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54527, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/markham-lincoln/poet-lore.html, id L10831.
Form and metre
Poet-Lore is 34 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 94% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic 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 8.3 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 18% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic 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 AABBCCDD youngA · tongueA · diesB · eyesB · thingsC · wingsC · overheadD · deadD
- 2 AABBCC childA · wildA · hurledB · worldB · powerC · flowerC
- 3 AABBCCDDEE treesA · seasA · roadB · loadB · curledC · worldC · thingsD · whisperingsD · fallE · allE
- 4 AABBCCDD-- sunA · runA · sphereB · fearB · hidC · pyramidC · pitD · itD · him · seraphim
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The poet is forever young | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| And speaks the one immortal tongue. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| To him the wonder never dies, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| For youth is looking through his eyes. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Pale listener at the heart of things, | 9 | ·/˘˘····· |
| He hears the voices and the wings: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He hears the skylark overhead— | 8 | ···/·/˘/ |
| Hears the far footfalls of the dead. | 8 | ···/···· |
| When the swift Muses seize their child, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Then God has gladness rich and wild; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| For when the bard is caught and hurled, | 9 | ········˘ |
| A splendor breaks across the world. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| His song distils a saving power | 9 | ··˘/·/˘/˘ |
| From foot-worn stone, from wayside flower. | 9 | ·····/·/˘ |
| He knows the gospel of the trees, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The whispered message of the seas; | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘··· |
| Finds in some beetle on the road | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A power to lift the human load; | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Sees, in some dead leaf dried and curled, | 9 | ········˘ |
| The deeper meaning of the world; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Hears through the roar of mortal things | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The God’s immortal whisperings; | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Sees the world-wonder rise and fall, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And knows that Beauty made it all. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He walks the circle of the sun, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And sees the bright Powers laugh and run. | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| He feels the motion of the sphere, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And builds his song in sacred fear. | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| He finds the faithful witness hid | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| In poppy-head and Pyramid. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| The Golden Heaven or the Pit— | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| He shakes the music out of it. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| All things yield up their souls to him | 8 | ········ |
| From dateless dust to seraphim. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
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.