Professor Newcomer
Everyone laughed at Col. PrichardFor buying an engine so powerfulThat it wrecked itself, and wrecked the grinderHe ran it with.But here is a joke of cosmic size:The urge of nature that made a manEvolve from his brain a spiritual life—Oh miracle of the world!—The very same brain with which the ape and wolfGet food and shelter and procreate themselves.Nature has made man do this,In a world where she gives him nothing to doAfter all—(though the strength of his soul goes roundIn a futile waste of power.To gear itself to the mills of the gods)—But get food and shelter and procreate himself!
Words in this poem
- everyone n.
- Everybody; -- commonly separated, every one. [OE. everychon.]
- grinder n.
- One who, or that which, grinds.
- cosmic a.
- Pertaining to the universe, and having special reference to universal law or order, or to the one grand harmonious system of things; hence; harmonious; orderly. [Gr. kosmiko`s of the world, fr. ko`smos: cf. F. cosmique. See Cosmos.]
- evolve v. t.
- To unfold or unroll; to open and expand; to disentangle and exhibit clearly and satisfactorily; to develop; to derive; to educe. [L. evolvere, evolutum; e out + volvere to roll. See Voluble.]
- futile a.
- Talkative; loquacious; tattling. [L. futilis that easily pours out, that easily lets loose, vain, worthless, from the root of fundere to pour out: cf. F. futile. See Fuse, v. t.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Professor Newcomer 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, Professor Newcomer, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/professor-newcomer.html, id L07856.
Form and metre
Professor Newcomer is 16 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.3 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 44% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Everyone laughed at Col. Prichard | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| For buying an engine so powerful | 10 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘˘ |
| That it wrecked itself, and wrecked the grinder | 10 | ···˘/···/˘ |
| He ran it with. | 4 | ···· |
| But here is a joke of cosmic size: | 9 | ······/˘· |
| The urge of nature that made a man | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Evolve from his brain a spiritual life— | 11 | ˘/····/˘˘˘· |
| Oh miracle of the world!— | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| The very same brain with which the ape and wolf | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Get food and shelter and procreate themselves. | 11 | ···/˘·/˘/˘/ |
| Nature has made man do this, | 7 | /˘····· |
| In a world where she gives him nothing to do | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| After all—(though the strength of his soul goes round | 11 | ··········· |
| In a futile waste of power. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| To gear itself to the mills of the gods)— | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| But get food and shelter and procreate himself! | 12 | ····/˘·/˘/˘/ |
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.