Poems
Life! I know not what thou art,But know that thou and I must part;And when, or how, or where we met,I own to me’s a secret yet.But this I know, when thou art fled,Where’er they lay these limbs, this head,No clod so valueless shall beAs all that then remains of me.O whither, whither dost thou fly?Where bend unseen thy trackless course?And in this strange divorce,Ah, tell where I must seek this compound I?To the vast ocean of empyreal flameFrom whence thy essence cameDost thou thy flight pursue, when freedFrom matter’s base encumbering weed?Or dost thou, hid from sight,Wait, like some spell-bound knight,Through blank oblivious years th’ appointed hourTo break thy trance and reassume thy power?Yet canst thou without thought or feeling be?O say, what art thou, when no more thou’rt thee?
Life! we have been long together,Through pleasant and through cloudy weather;’Tis hard to part when friends are dear;Perhaps ’twill cost a sigh, a tear;--Then steal away, give little warning,Choose thine own time;Say not Good-night, but in some brighter climeBid me Good-morning!
Words in this poem
- clod n.
- A lump or mass, especially of earth, turf, or clay. [OE. clodde, latter form of clot. See Clot.]
- valueless a.
- Being of no value; having no worth.
- 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,]
- whither adv.
- To what place; -- used interrogatively; as, whither goest thou [OE. whider. AS. hwider; akin to E. where, who; cf. Goth. hvadre whither. See Who, and cf. Hither, Thither.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- trackless a.
- Having no track; marked by no footsteps; untrodden; as, a trackless desert.
- empyreal a.
- Formed of pure fire or light; refined beyond aërial substance; pertaining to the highest and purest region of heaven. [L. empyrius, empyreus, fiery, Gr. In, and Fire.]
- oblivious a.
- Promoting oblivion; causing forgetfulness. [L.obliviosus: cf.F. oblivieux.]
- reassume v. t.
- To assume again or anew; to resume.
- twill v. i.
- To weave, as cloth, so as to produce the appearance of diagonal lines or ribs on the surface. [Scotch tweel; probably from LG. twillen to make double, from twi- two; akin to AS. twi-, E. twi- in twilight. See Twice, and cf. Tweed, Tweel.]
- clime n.
- A climate; a tract or region of the earth. See Climate. [L. clima. See Climate.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poems is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900, Project Gutenberg ebook #66619; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Anna Lætitia Barbauld, Poems, (1743–1825), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-anna-ltitia-barbauld/life.html, id L16167.
Form and metre
Life is 30 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 AABBCCDDEFFEGGHHIIJJDD artA · partA · metB · yetB · fledC · headC · beD · meD · flyE · courseF · divorceF · iE · flameG · cameG · freedH · weedH · sightI · knightI · hourJ · powerJ · beD · theeD
- 2 AABBCDDC togetherA · weatherA · dearB · tearB · warningC · timeD · climeD · morningC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Life! I know not what thou art, | 7 | ······· |
| But know that thou and I must part; | 8 | ········ |
| And when, or how, or where we met, | 8 | ········ |
| I own to me’s a secret yet. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But this I know, when thou art fled, | 8 | ········ |
| Where’er they lay these limbs, this head, | 9 | ˘˘/······ |
| No clod so valueless shall be | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| As all that then remains of me. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| O whither, whither dost thou fly? | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Where bend unseen thy trackless course? | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| And in this strange divorce, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Ah, tell where I must seek this compound I? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To the vast ocean of empyreal flame | 11 | ···/˘·˘/˘˘· |
| From whence thy essence came | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Dost thou thy flight pursue, when freed | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| From matter’s base encumbering weed? | 9 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘· |
| Or dost thou, hid from sight, | 6 | ······ |
| Wait, like some spell-bound knight, | 6 | ······ |
| Through blank oblivious years th’ appointed hour | 12 | ··˘/˘˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| To break thy trance and reassume thy power? | 11 | ·····˘˘/·/˘ |
| Yet canst thou without thought or feeling be? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| O say, what art thou, when no more thou’rt thee? | 10 | ·········· |
| Life! we have been long together, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Through pleasant and through cloudy weather; | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| ’Tis hard to part when friends are dear; | 8 | ········ |
| Perhaps ’twill cost a sigh, a tear;-- | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Then steal away, give little warning, | 9 | ··˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Choose thine own time; | 4 | ···· |
| Say not Good-night, but in some brighter clime | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Bid me Good-morning! | 5 | ···/˘ |
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.