Apologia
One more hour to wander freeWith Puck on his unbridled beeThro' heather-forests, leagues of bloom,Our childhood's maze of scent and sun!Forbear awhile your notes of doom,Dear Critics, give me still this oneSwift hour to hunt the fairy gleamThat flutters thro' the unfettered dream.It mocks me as it flies, I know:All too soon the gleam will go;Yet I love it and shall loveMy dream that brooks no narrower barsThan bind the darkening heavens above,My Jack o'Lanthorn of the stars:Then, I'll follow it no more,I'll light the lamp: I'll close the door.
Words in this poem
- puck n.
- A celebrated fairy, [OE. pouke; cf. OSw. puke, Icel. puki an evil demon, W. pwca a hobgoblin. Cf. Poker a bugbear, Pug.]
- unbridled a.
- Loosed from the bridle, or as from the bridle; hence, unrestrained; licentious; violent; as, unbridled passions. [Pref. un- not + bridled.]
- maze n.
- A wild fancy; a confused notion. [OE. mase; cf. OE. masen to confuse, puzzle, Norweg. masast to fall into a slumber, masa to be continually busy, prate, chatter, Icel. masa to chatter, dial. Sw.]
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- 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
Apologia is in the public domain. This text is taken from Collected Poems: Volume One, Project Gutenberg ebook #30501; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Alfred Noyes, Apologia, in Collected Poems, Volume One (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #30501, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/noyes-collected/apologia.html, id L21449.
Form and metre
Apologia is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AABCBCDDEEFGFGHH freeA · beeA · bloomB · sunC · doomB · oneC · gleamD · dreamD · knowE · goE · loveF · barsG · aboveF · starsG · moreH · doorH
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| One more hour to wander free | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| With Puck on his unbridled bee | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Thro' heather-forests, leagues of bloom, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Our childhood's maze of scent and sun! | 8 | //······ |
| Forbear awhile your notes of doom, | 8 | ˘/˘/···· |
| Dear Critics, give me still this one | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Swift hour to hunt the fairy gleam | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| That flutters thro' the unfettered dream. | 9 | ·/˘··˘/˘· |
| It mocks me as it flies, I know: | 8 | ········ |
| All too soon the gleam will go; | 7 | ······· |
| Yet I love it and shall love | 7 | ······· |
| My dream that brooks no narrower bars | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Than bind the darkening heavens above, | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| My Jack o'Lanthorn of the stars: | 8 | ········ |
| Then, I'll follow it no more, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| I'll light the lamp: I'll close the door. | 8 | ········ |
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.