The Climb of Life
There’s a feel of all things flowing,And no power of Earth can bind them;There’s a sense of all things growing,And through all their forms a-glowingOf the shaping souls behind them.
And the break of beauty heightensWith the swiftening of the motion,And the soul behind it lightens,As a gleam of splendor whitensFrom a running wave of ocean.
See the still hand of the Shaper,Moving in the dusk of being:Burns at first a misty taper,Like the moon in veil of vapor,When the rack of night is fleeing.
In the stone a dream is sleeping,Just a tinge of life, a tremor;In the tree a soul is creeping--Last, a rush of angels sweepingWith the skies beyond the dreamer.
So the Lord of Life is flingingOut a splendor that conceals Him:And the God is softly singingAnd on secret ways is winging,Till the rush of song reveals Him.
Words in this poem
- shaper n.
- One who shapes; as, the shaper of one's fortunes.
- dreamer n.
- One who dreams.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Climb of Life 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, The Climb of Life, 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/the-climb-of-life.html, id L24783.
Form and metre
The Climb of Life is 25 lines in 5 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAAB, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABAAB flowingA · themB · growingA · glowingA · themB
- 2 ABAAB heightensA · motionB · lightensA · whitensA · oceanB
- 3 ABAAB shaperA · beingB · taperA · vaporA · fleeingB
- 4 A-AA- sleepingA · tremor · creepingA · sweepingA · dreamer
- 5 ABAAB flingingA · himB · singingA · wingingA · himB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| There’s a feel of all things flowing, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And no power of Earth can bind them; | 8 | ··/····· |
| There’s a sense of all things growing, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And through all their forms a-glowing | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Of the shaping souls behind them. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| And the break of beauty heightens | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| With the swiftening of the motion, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And the soul behind it lightens, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| As a gleam of splendor whitens | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| From a running wave of ocean. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| See the still hand of the Shaper, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Moving in the dusk of being: | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Burns at first a misty taper, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Like the moon in veil of vapor, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| When the rack of night is fleeing. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In the stone a dream is sleeping, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Just a tinge of life, a tremor; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In the tree a soul is creeping-- | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Last, a rush of angels sweeping | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| With the skies beyond the dreamer. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| So the Lord of Life is flinging | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Out a splendor that conceals Him: | 8 | ··/˘·˘/· |
| And the God is softly singing | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| And on secret ways is winging, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Till the rush of song reveals Him. | 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.