The Comparison
WHERE she succeeds with cloudless brow,In common and in holy course,He fails, in spite of prayer and vowAnd agonies of faith and force;Or, if his suit with Heaven prevailsTo righteous life, his virtuous deedsLack beauty, virtue’s badge; she failsMore graciously than he succeeds.Her spirit, compact of gentleness,If Heaven postpones or grants her pray’r,Conceives no pride in its success,And in its failure no despair;But his, enamour’d of its hurt,Baffled, blasphemes, or, not denied,Crows from the dunghill of desert,And wags its ugly wings for pride.He’s never young nor ripe; she growsMore infantine, auroral, mild,And still the more she lives and knowsThe lovelier she’s express’d a child.Say that she wants the will of manTo conquer fame, not check’d by cross,Nor moved when others bless or ban;She wants but what to have were loss.Or say she wants the patient brainTo track shy truth; her facile witAt that which he hunts down with painFlies straight, and does exactly hit.Were she but half of what she is,He twice himself, mere love alone,Her special crown, as truth is his,Gives title to the worthier throne;For love is substance, truth the form;Truth without love were less than nought;But blindest love is sweet and warm,And full of truth not shaped by thought,And therefore in herself she standsAdorn’d with undeficient grace,Her happy virtues taking hands,Each smiling in another’s face.So, dancing round the Tree of Life,They make an Eden in her breast,While his, disjointed and at strife,Proud-thoughted, do not bring him rest.
Words in this poem
- cloudless a.
- Without a cloud; clear; bright.
- virtuous a.
- Possessing or exhibiting virtue. Specifically: -- (a) Exhibiting manly courage and strength; valorous; valiant; brave. [OE. vertuous, OF. vertuos, vertuous, F. vertueux, fr. L. Virtuous. See Virtue, and cf. Virtuoso.]
- graciously adv.
- In a gracious manner; courteously; benignantly.
- dunghill n.
- A heap of dung.
- infantine a.
- Infantile; childish. [Cf. F. enfantin.]
- auroral a.
- Belonging to, or resembling, the aurora (the dawn or the northern lights); rosy.
- facile a.
- Easy to be done or performed: not difficult; performable or attainable with little labor. [L. facilis, prop., capable of being done or made, hence, facile, easy, fr. facere to make, do: cf. F. facile. Srr Fact, and cf. Faculty.]
- eden n.
- The garden where Adam and Eve first dwelt; hence, a delightful region or residence. [Heb. eden delight, pleasure; also, a place of pleasure, Eden.]
- disjointed a.
- Separated at the joints; disconnected; incoherent.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Comparison is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Angel in the House, Project Gutenberg ebook #4099; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Coventry Patmore, The Comparison, in The Angel in the House (1854–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4099, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/patmore-angel/the-comparison.html, id L12238.
Form and metre
The Comparison is 44 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% 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 ABABCDCDE-E-FGFGHIHIJKJKLMLMNONOPQPQRSRSTUTU browA · courseB · vowA · forceB · prevailsC · deedsD · failsC · succeedsD · gentlenessE · pray'r · successE · despair · hurtF · deniedG · desertF · prideG · growsH · mildI · knowsH · childI · manJ · crossK · banJ · lossK · brainL · witM · painL · hitM · isN · aloneO · hisN · throneO · formP · noughtQ · warmP · thoughtQ · standsR · graceS · handsR · faceS · lifeT · breastU · strifeT · restU
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 |
|---|---|---|
| WHERE she succeeds with cloudless brow, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| In common and in holy course, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| He fails, in spite of prayer and vow | 8 | ········ |
| And agonies of faith and force; | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Or, if his suit with Heaven prevails | 8 | ·····/˘/ |
| To righteous life, his virtuous deeds | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Lack beauty, virtue’s badge; she fails | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| More graciously than he succeeds. | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘/ |
| Her spirit, compact of gentleness, | 9 | ·/˘/˘·/˘˘ |
| If Heaven postpones or grants her pray’r, | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| Conceives no pride in its success, | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| And in its failure no despair; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| But his, enamour’d of its hurt, | 8 | ········ |
| Baffled, blasphemes, or, not denied, | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| Crows from the dunghill of desert, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And wags its ugly wings for pride. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He’s never young nor ripe; she grows | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| More infantine, auroral, mild, | 8 | ·/˘˘˘/˘· |
| And still the more she lives and knows | 8 | ········ |
| The lovelier she’s express’d a child. | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
| Say that she wants the will of man | 8 | ········ |
| To conquer fame, not check’d by cross, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Nor moved when others bless or ban; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| She wants but what to have were loss. | 8 | ········ |
| Or say she wants the patient brain | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To track shy truth; her facile wit | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| At that which he hunts down with pain | 8 | ········ |
| Flies straight, and does exactly hit. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Were she but half of what she is, | 8 | ········ |
| He twice himself, mere love alone, | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Her special crown, as truth is his, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Gives title to the worthier throne; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| For love is substance, truth the form; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Truth without love were less than nought; | 8 | ········ |
| But blindest love is sweet and warm, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And full of truth not shaped by thought, | 8 | ········ |
| And therefore in herself she stands | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Adorn’d with undeficient grace, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Her happy virtues taking hands, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Each smiling in another’s face. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| So, dancing round the Tree of Life, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| They make an Eden in her breast, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| While his, disjointed and at strife, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Proud-thoughted, do not bring him rest. | 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.