Ignorance
Since I have learned Love's shining alphabet,And spelled in ink what's writ in me in flame,And borne her sacred image richly setHere in my heart to keep me quit of shame;
Since I have learned how wise and passing wiseIs the dear friend whose beauty I extol,And know how sweet a soul looks through the eyes,That are so pure a window to her soul;
Since I have learned how rare a woman showsAs much in all she does as in her looks,And seen the beauty of her shame the rose,And dim the beauty writ about in books;
All I have learned, and can learn, shows me this--How scant, how slight, my knowledge of her is.
Words in this poem
- extol v. t.
- To place on high; to lift up; to elevate. [L. extollere; ex out + tollere to lift, take up, or raise: cf. OF. extoller. See Tollerate, and cf. Flate.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ignorance is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Story of a Round-House, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #40717; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Masefield, Ignorance, in The Story of a Round-House, and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #40717, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masefield-round-house/ignorance.html, id L25022.
Form and metre
Ignorance is 14 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 ABAB alphabetA · flameB · setA · shameB
- 2 ABAB wiseA · extolB · eyesA · soulB
- 3 ABAB showsA · looksB · roseA · booksB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Since I have learned Love's shining alphabet, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And spelled in ink what's writ in me in flame, | 10 | ·········· |
| And borne her sacred image richly set | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Here in my heart to keep me quit of shame; | 10 | ·········· |
| Since I have learned how wise and passing wise | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Is the dear friend whose beauty I extol, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And know how sweet a soul looks through the eyes, | 10 | ·········· |
| That are so pure a window to her soul; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Since I have learned how rare a woman shows | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| As much in all she does as in her looks, | 10 | ·········· |
| And seen the beauty of her shame the rose, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And dim the beauty writ about in books; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| All I have learned, and can learn, shows me this-- | 10 | ·········· |
| How scant, how slight, my knowledge of her is. | 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.