Lyman King
You may think, passer-by, that FateIs a pit-fall outside of yourself,Around which you may walk by the use of foresightAnd wisdom.Thus you believe, viewing the lives of other men,As one who in God-like fashion bends over an anthill,Seeing how their difficulties could be avoided.But pass on into life:In time you shall see Fate approach youIn the shape of your own image in the mirror;Or you shall sit alone by your own hearth,And suddenly the chair by you shall hold a guest,And you shall know that guestAnd read the authentic message of his eyes.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lyman King is in the public domain. This text is taken from Spoon River Anthology, Project Gutenberg ebook #1280; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edgar Lee Masters, Lyman King, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/lyman-king.html, id L07921.
Form and metre
Lyman King is 14 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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- fate · yourself · foresight · wisdom · men · anthill · avoided · life · you · mirror · hearth · guestA · guestA · eyes
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| You may think, passer-by, that Fate | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Is a pit-fall outside of yourself, | 9 | ····//·˘/ |
| Around which you may walk by the use of foresight | 12 | ··········/· |
| And wisdom. | 3 | ·/˘ |
| Thus you believe, viewing the lives of other men, | 12 | ··˘//˘···/˘· |
| As one who in God-like fashion bends over an anthill, | 14 | ······/˘····/· |
| Seeing how their difficulties could be avoided. | 13 | /˘··/˘˘˘··˘/˘ |
| But pass on into life: | 6 | ······ |
| In time you shall see Fate approach you | 9 | ······˘/· |
| In the shape of your own image in the mirror; | 12 | ······/˘··/˘ |
| Or you shall sit alone by your own hearth, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| And suddenly the chair by you shall hold a guest, | 12 | ·/˘˘········ |
| And you shall know that guest | 6 | ······ |
| And read the authentic message of his eyes. | 11 | ···˘/˘/˘··· |
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.