Poem XII
And ever as Anwyl went the unknown endFaded before him, back and back and backHe saw new empty heavens for ever bendOver his endless track;
And memory, burning with new hopeless fire,Showed him how every passing infinite hourMade some new Crucifix for the World's DesireIs some new wayside flower:
He saw what joy and beauty owed to death;How all the world was one great sacrificeOf Him, in whom all creatures that draw breathShare God's eternal skies;
How Love is lord of all the world at once;And never bids the encircled spirit roamTo the circle's bound, beyond the moons and suns,But makes each heart its home,
And every home the heart of Space and Time,And each and all a heaven if love could reignOne infinite untranscended heaven sublimeWith God's own joy and pain.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- crucifix n.
- A representation in art of the figure of Christ upon the cross; esp., the sculptured figure affixed to a real cross of wood, ivory, metal, or the like, used by the Roman Catholics in their devotions. [F. crucifix or LL. crucifixum, fr. L. crux, crucis, cross + figere, fixum, to fix. See Cross, and Fix, and cf. Crucify.]
- wayside n.
- The side of the way; the edge or border of a road or path.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poem XII 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, Poem XII, in Collected Poems, Volume One (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #30501, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/noyes-collected/poem-xii.html, id L21444.
Form and metre
Poem XII is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%).
See 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 ABAB endA · backB · bendA · trackB
- 2 ABAB fireA · hourB · desireA · flowerB
- 3 A-A- deathA · sacrifice · breathA · skies
- 4 -A-A once · roamA · suns · homeA
- 5 ABAB timeA · reignB · sublimeA · painB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| And ever as Anwyl went the unknown end | 10 | ·/·/˘··˘/· |
| Faded before him, back and back and back | 10 | /˘········ |
| He saw new empty heavens for ever bend | 10 | ···/˘/˘·/· |
| Over his endless track; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And memory, burning with new hopeless fire, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘/ |
| Showed him how every passing infinite hour | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘/ |
| Made some new Crucifix for the World's Desire | 11 | ···/˘····˘/ |
| Is some new wayside flower: | 7 | ···/·/˘ |
| He saw what joy and beauty owed to death; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| How all the world was one great sacrifice | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of Him, in whom all creatures that draw breath | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Share God's eternal skies; | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| How Love is lord of all the world at once; | 10 | ·········· |
| And never bids the encircled spirit roam | 10 | ·/··˘/˘/˘· |
| To the circle's bound, beyond the moons and suns, | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| But makes each heart its home, | 6 | ······ |
| And every home the heart of Space and Time, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And each and all a heaven if love could reign | 10 | ·····/···· |
| One infinite untranscended heaven sublime | 10 | ·/˘····/˘/ |
| With God's own joy and pain. | 6 | ······ |
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.