The Seekers
Friends and loves we have none, nor wealth nor blessed abode,But the hope of the City of God at the other end of the road.
Not for us are content, and quiet, and peace of mind,For we go seeking a city that we shall never find.
There is no solace on earth for us--for such as we--Who search for a hidden city that we shall never see.
Only the road and the dawn, the sun, the wind, and the rain,And the watch fire under stars, and sleep, and the road again.
We seek the City of God, and the haunt where beauty dwells,And we find the noisy mart and the sound of burial bells.
Never the golden city, where radiant people meet,But the dolorous town where mourners are going about the street.
We travel the dusty road till the light of the day is dim,And sunset shows us spires away on the world's rim.
We travel from dawn to dusk, till the day is past and by,Seeking the Holy City beyond the rim of the sky.
Friends and loves we have none, nor wealth nor blest abode,But the hope of the City of God at the other end of the road.
Words in this poem
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- abode n.
- Act of waiting; delay. [OE. abad, abood, fr. abiden to abide. See Abide. For the change of vowel, cf. abode, imp. of abide.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- solace n.
- Comfort in grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety; also, that which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; relief. [OF. solas, ssoulaz, L. solacium, solatium, fr. solari to comfort, console. Cf. Console, v. t.]
- mart v. t.
- To buy or sell in, or as in, a mart.
- burial n.
- A grave; a tomb; a place of sepulture. [OE. buriel, buriels, grave, tomb, AS. byrgels, fr. byrgan to bury, and akin to OS. burgisli sepulcher.]
- dolorous a.
- Full of grief; sad; sorrowful; doleful; dismal; as, a dolorous object; dolorous discourses. [L. dolorosus, from dolor: cf. F. douloureux. See Dolor.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Seekers 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, The Seekers, 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/the-seekers.html, id L24999.
Form and metre
The Seekers is 18 lines in 9 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AA abodeA · roadA
- 2 AA mindA · findA
- 3 AA weA · seeA
- 4 AA rainA · againA
- 5 AA dwellsA · bellsA
- 6 AA meetA · streetA
- 7 AA dimA · rimA
- 8 AA byA · skyA
- 9 AA abodeA · roadA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Friends and loves we have none, nor wealth nor blessed abode, | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| But the hope of the City of God at the other end of the road. | 17 | ·····/˘····/˘···· |
| Not for us are content, and quiet, and peace of mind, | 12 | ····˘/·/···· |
| For we go seeking a city that we shall never find. | 13 | ···/˘·/˘···/· |
| There is no solace on earth for us--for such as we-- | 13 | ···/˘········ |
| Who search for a hidden city that we shall never see. | 13 | ····/˘/˘···/· |
| Only the road and the dawn, the sun, the wind, and the rain, | 14 | /˘············ |
| And the watch fire under stars, and sleep, and the road again. | 14 | ···/········˘/ |
| We seek the City of God, and the haunt where beauty dwells, | 14 | ···/˘······/˘· |
| And we find the noisy mart and the sound of burial bells. | 14 | ····/˘·····/˘· |
| Never the golden city, where radiant people meet, | 12 | /·/˘/˘·/˘/˘· |
| But the dolorous town where mourners are going about the street. | 15 | ··/˘˘··/˘·/···· |
| We travel the dusty road till the light of the day is dim, | 15 | ·/˘·/˘········· |
| And sunset shows us spires away on the world's rim. | 12 | ·/····˘/···· |
| We travel from dawn to dusk, till the day is past and by, | 14 | ·/˘··········· |
| Seeking the Holy City beyond the rim of the sky. | 14 | /˘·/˘/˘······· |
| Friends and loves we have none, nor wealth nor blest abode, | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| But the hope of the City of God at the other end of the road. | 17 | ·····/˘····/˘···· |
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.