The Thought

William Brighty Rands (1823–1880) · 1823–1880

iambic tetrameter · AABB · 39 lines · from Poems

Into the skies, one summer’s day,I sent a little Thought away;Up to where, in the blue round,The sun sat shining without sound.

Then my Thought came back to me.--Little Thought, what did you seeIn the regions whence you come?And when I spoke, my Thought was dumb.

But she breathed of what was there,In the pure bright upper air;And, because my Thought so shone,I knew she had been shone upon.

Next, by night a Thought I sentUp into the firmament;When the eager stars were out,And the still moon shone about.

And my Thought went past the moonIn between the stars, but soonHeld her breath and durst not stir,For the fear that covered her;Then she thought, in this demur:

‘Dare I look beneath the shade,Into where the worlds are made;Where the suns and stars are wrought?Shall I meet another Thought?

‘Will that other Thought have wings?Shall I meet strange, heavenly things?Thought of Thoughts, and Light of Lights,Breath of Breaths, and Night of Nights?’

Then my Thought began to harkIn the illuminated dark,Till the silence, over, under,Made her heart beat more than thunder.

And my Thought, came trembling back,But with something on her track,And with something at her side;Nor till she has lived and died,Lived and died, and lived again,Will that awful thing seem plain.

Words in this poem

spoke n.: The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
firmament n.: Fixed foundation; established basis. [L. firmamentum, fr. firmare to make firm: cf. F. firmament. See Firm, v. & a.]
went n.: Course; way; path; journey; direction.
demur v. i.: To linger; to stay; to tarry. [OF. demurer, demorer, demourer, to linger, stay, F. demeurer, fr. L. demorari; de- + morari to delay, tarry, stay, mora delay; prob. originally, time for thinki]
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

The Thought 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: William Brighty Rands, The Thought, in Poems (1823–1880), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-william-brighty-rands/the-thought.html, id L16230.

Form and metre

The Thought is 39 lines in 9 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 6 of its 9 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 13% 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 AABB day^A · away^A · round^B · sound^B
2 AABB me^A · see^A · come^B · dumb^B
3 AA-- there^A · air^A · shone · upon
4 AABB sent^A · firmament^A · out^B · about^B
5 AABBB moon^A · soon^A · stir^B · her^B · demur^B
6 AABB shade^A · made^A · wrought^B · thought^B
7 AABB wings^A · things^A · lights^B · nights^B
8 AABB hark^A · dark^A · under^B · thunder^B
9 AABBCC back^A · track^A · side^B · died^B · again^C · plain^C

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
Into the skies, one summer’s day,	8	·····/˘·
I sent a little Thought away;	8	···/˘·˘/
Up to where, in the blue round,	7	·······
The sun sat shining without sound.	8	···/˘···
Then my Thought came back to me.--	7	·······
Little Thought, what did you see	7	/˘·····
In the regions whence you come?	7	··/˘···
And when I spoke, my Thought was dumb.	8	········
But she breathed of what was there,	7	·······
In the pure bright upper air;	7	····/˘·
And, because my Thought so shone,	7	·······
I knew she had been shone upon.	8	········
Next, by night a Thought I sent	7	·······
Up into the firmament;	7	····/˘˘
When the eager stars were out,	7	··/˘···
And the still moon shone about.	7	·······
And my Thought went past the moon	7	·······
In between the stars, but soon	7	·······
Held her breath and durst not stir,	7	·······
For the fear that covered her;	7	····/˘·
Then she thought, in this demur:	7	·····˘/
‘Dare I look beneath the shade,	7	·······
Into where the worlds are made;	7	·······
Where the suns and stars are wrought?	7	·······
Shall I meet another Thought?	7	···˘/˘·
‘Will that other Thought have wings?	7	··/˘···
Shall I meet strange, heavenly things?	7	····/˘·
Thought of Thoughts, and Light of Lights,	7	·······
Breath of Breaths, and Night of Nights?’	7	·······
Then my Thought began to hark	7	···˘/··
In the illuminated dark,	8	··˘/˘·˘·
Till the silence, over, under,	7	··/˘···
Made her heart beat more than thunder.	8	······/˘
And my Thought, came trembling back,	7	····/˘·
But with something on her track,	7	··/˘···
And with something at her side;	7	··/˘···
Nor till she has lived and died,	7	·······
Lived and died, and lived again,	7	·····˘/
Will that awful thing seem plain.	7	··/˘···

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.

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