Plaint
Dark, deep, and cold the current flowsUnto the sea where no wind blows,Seeking the land which no one knows.
O’er its sad gloom still comes and goesThe mingled wail of friends and foes,Borne to the land which no one knows.
Why shrieks for help yon wretch, who goesWith millions, from a world of woes,Unto the land which no one knows?
Though myriads go with him who goes,Alone he goes where no wind blows,Unto the land which no one knows.
For all must go where no wind blows,And none can go for him who goes;None, none return whence no one knows.
Yet why should he who shrieking goesWith millions, from a world of woes,Reunion seek with it or those?
Alone with God, where no wind blows,And Death, his shadow--doom’d, he goes.That God is there the shadow shows.
O shoreless Deep, where no wind blows!And thou, O Land which no one knows!That God is All, His shadow shows.
Words in this poem
- reunion n.
- A second union; union formed anew after separation, secession, or discord; as, a reunion of parts or particles of matter; a reunion of parties or sects. [Pref. re- + union: cf. F. réunion.]
- shoreless a.
- Having no shore or coast; of indefinite or unlimited extent; as, a shoreless ocean. Young.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Plaint 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: Ebenezer Elliott, Plaint, in Poems (1781–1849), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-ebenezer-elliott/plaint.html, id L16183.
Form and metre
Plaint is 24 lines in 8 stanzas of 3 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AAA flowsA · blowsA · knowsA
- 2 AAA goesA · foesA · knowsA
- 3 AAA goesA · woesA · knowsA
- 4 AAA goesA · blowsA · knowsA
- 5 AAA blowsA · goesA · knowsA
- 6 AAA goesA · woesA · thoseA
- 7 AAA blowsA · goesA · showsA
- 8 AAA blowsA · knowsA · showsA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dark, deep, and cold the current flows | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Unto the sea where no wind blows, | 8 | ········ |
| Seeking the land which no one knows. | 8 | /˘······ |
| O’er its sad gloom still comes and goes | 8 | ········ |
| The mingled wail of friends and foes, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Borne to the land which no one knows. | 8 | ········ |
| Why shrieks for help yon wretch, who goes | 8 | ········ |
| With millions, from a world of woes, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Unto the land which no one knows? | 8 | ········ |
| Though myriads go with him who goes, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Alone he goes where no wind blows, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Unto the land which no one knows. | 8 | ········ |
| For all must go where no wind blows, | 8 | ········ |
| And none can go for him who goes; | 8 | ········ |
| None, none return whence no one knows. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Yet why should he who shrieking goes | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With millions, from a world of woes, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Reunion seek with it or those? | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Alone with God, where no wind blows, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| And Death, his shadow--doom’d, he goes. | 8 | ···/···· |
| That God is there the shadow shows. | 8 | ·····/·· |
| O shoreless Deep, where no wind blows! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And thou, O Land which no one knows! | 8 | ········ |
| That God is All, His shadow shows. | 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.