The Symbolist
Help me to seek that unknown land!I kneel before the shrine.Help me to feel the hidden handThat ever holdeth mine.
I kneel before the Word, I kneelBefore the Cross of flameI cry, as thro' the gloom I steal,The glory of the Name.
Help me to mourn, and I shall love;What grief is like to mine?Crown me with thorn, the stars aboveShall in the circlet shine!
The Temple opens wide: none seesThe love, the dream, the light!O, blind and finite, are not theseBlinding and infinite?
The veil, the veil is rent: the skiesAre white with wings of fire,Where victim souls triumphant riseIn torment of desire.
Help me to seek: I would not find,For when I find I knowI shall have clasped the hollow windAnd built a house of snow.
Words in this poem
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
- 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,]
- circlet n.
- A little circle; esp., an ornament for the person, having the form of a circle; that which encircles, as a ring, a bracelet, or a headband.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Symbolist 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, The Symbolist, in Collected Poems, Volume One (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #30501, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/noyes-collected/the-symbolist.html, id L21396.
Form and metre
The Symbolist is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 landA · shrineB · handA · mineB
- 2 ABAB kneelA · flameB · stealA · nameB
- 3 ABAB loveA · mineB · aboveA · shineB
- 4 ABAB seesA · lightB · theseA · infiniteB
- 5 ABAB skiesA · fireB · riseA · desireB
- 6 ABAB findA · knowB · windA · snowB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Help me to seek that unknown land! | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| I kneel before the shrine. | 6 | ······ |
| Help me to feel the hidden hand | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That ever holdeth mine. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| I kneel before the Word, I kneel | 8 | ········ |
| Before the Cross of flame | 6 | ······ |
| I cry, as thro' the gloom I steal, | 8 | ········ |
| The glory of the Name. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Help me to mourn, and I shall love; | 8 | ········ |
| What grief is like to mine? | 6 | ······ |
| Crown me with thorn, the stars above | 8 | ········ |
| Shall in the circlet shine! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The Temple opens wide: none sees | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The love, the dream, the light! | 6 | ······ |
| O, blind and finite, are not these | 8 | ···/···· |
| Blinding and infinite? | 6 | /˘·/˘˘ |
| The veil, the veil is rent: the skies | 8 | ········ |
| Are white with wings of fire, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Where victim souls triumphant rise | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| In torment of desire. | 7 | ·/··˘/˘ |
| Help me to seek: I would not find, | 8 | ········ |
| For when I find I know | 6 | ······ |
| I shall have clasped the hollow wind | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And built a house of snow. | 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.