Through Agony II
I do not fear to face the fact and say,How darkly-dull my living hours have grown,My wounded heart sinks heavier than stone,Because I loved you longer than a day!I do not shame to turn myself awayFrom beckoning flowers beautifully blown,To mourn your vivid memory aloneIn mountain fastnesses austerely gray.The mists will shroud me on the utter height,The salty, brimming waters of my breastWill mingle with the fresh dews of the nightTo bathe my spirit hankering to rest.But after sleep I’ll wake with greater might,Once more to venture on the eternal quest.
Words in this poem
- austerely adv.
- Severely; rigidly; sternly.
- salty a.
- Somewhat salt; saltish.
- brimming a.
- Full to the brim; overflowing.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Through Agony II is in the public domain. This text is taken from Harlem shadows, Project Gutenberg ebook #64989; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Claude McKay, Through Agony II, in Harlem Shadows (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #64989, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mckay-harlem-shadows/through-agony-ii.html, id L01411.
Form and metre
Through Agony II is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDCD, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other Italian sonnets, 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 ABBAABBACDCDCD sayA · grownB · stoneB · dayA · awayA · blownB · aloneB · grayA · heightC · breastD · nightC · restD · mightC · questD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I do not fear to face the fact and say, | 10 | ·········· |
| How darkly-dull my living hours have grown, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/·· |
| My wounded heart sinks heavier than stone, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| Because I loved you longer than a day! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I do not shame to turn myself away | 10 | ·······/˘/ |
| From beckoning flowers beautifully blown, | 10 | ·/˘˘/˘/˘˘· |
| To mourn your vivid memory alone | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| In mountain fastnesses austerely gray. | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| The mists will shroud me on the utter height, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The salty, brimming waters of my breast | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Will mingle with the fresh dews of the night | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| To bathe my spirit hankering to rest. | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| But after sleep I’ll wake with greater might, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Once more to venture on the eternal quest. | 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.