Keats A-Dying
Often of that Last Hour I lie and think;I see thee, Keats, nearing the Deathway dim--See Severn in his noiseless hurry, himWho leaned above thee fading on the brink.
What is that wild light through the window chink?Is it the burning feet of cherubim?Or is it the white moon on western rim--Saint Agnes’ moon beginning now to sink?
How did Death come--with sounds of water-stir?With forms of beauty breaking at the lips?With field pipes and the scent of blowing fir?Or came it hurrying like a last eclipse,Sweeping the world away like gossamer,Blotting the moon, the mountains, and the ships?
Words in this poem
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- brink n.
- The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge, as of a river or pit; a verge; a border; as, the brink of a chasm. Also Fig. [Dan. brink edge, verge; akin to Sw. brink declivity, hill, Icel. brekka; cf. LG. brink a grassy hill, W. bryn hill, bryncyn hillock.]
- cherubim n.
- The Hebrew plural of Cherub.. Cf. Seraphim.
- gossamer n.
- A fine, filmy substance, like cobwebs, floating in the air, in calm, clear weather, especially in autumn. It is seen in stubble fields and on furze or low bushes, and is formed by small spiders. [OE. gossomer, gossummer, gosesomer, perh. for goose summer, from its downy appearance, or perh. for God's summer, cf. G. mariengarr gossamer, properly Mary's ya]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Keats A-Dying is in the public domain. This text is taken from The man with the hoe, and other poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #67012; 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, Keats A-Dying, in The Man with the Hoe, and Other Poems (1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #67012, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/markham-man-with-hoe/keats-a-dying.html, id L24762.
Form and metre
Keats A-Dying is 14 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 ABBA thinkA · dimB · himB · brinkA
- 2 A--A chinkA · cherubim · rim · sinkA
- 3 ABAB-B stirA · lipsB · firA · eclipseB · gossamer · shipsB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Often of that Last Hour I lie and think; | 10 | /˘···/···· |
| I see thee, Keats, nearing the Deathway dim-- | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| See Severn in his noiseless hurry, him | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Who leaned above thee fading on the brink. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| What is that wild light through the window chink? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Is it the burning feet of cherubim? | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Or is it the white moon on western rim-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Saint Agnes’ moon beginning now to sink? | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| How did Death come--with sounds of water-stir? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With forms of beauty breaking at the lips? | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| With field pipes and the scent of blowing fir? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Or came it hurrying like a last eclipse, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Sweeping the world away like gossamer, | 10 | /˘··˘/·/˘˘ |
| Blotting the moon, the mountains, and the ships? | 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.