The World's Slavery
What gaieties, what sports, what pleasures throngThe world, so full of music and of song!But ask the noisiest in the deadening noise,"Are these substantial joys?"I doubt, I doubt: in the confusion there,I hear the loud explosions of despair;While the chains clank, the half-demented spiritSeeks in the turbulent clamour not to hear it;The world is but a jailer—holds our wholeBody and limbs in fetters; would retainOur very soul in slavery's cursed chain;But that—we have no soul!
Words in this poem
- clank n.
- A sharp, brief, ringing sound, made by a collision of metallic or other sonorous bodies; -- usually expressing a duller or less resounding sound than clang, and a deeper and stronger sound than clink. [Akin to clink, and of imitative origin; cf. G. klang sound, D. klank. Cf. Clang.]
- clamour n.
- A great outcry or vociferation; loud and continued shouting or exclamation. [OF. clamour, clamur, F. clameur, fr. L. clamor, fr. clamare to cry out. See Claim.]
- jailer n.
- The keeper of a jail or prison. [OE. jailer, gailer, OF. geolier, F. geôlier. See Jail.]
- cursed a.
- Deserving a curse; execrable; hateful; detestable; abominable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The World's Slavery is in the public domain. This text is taken from Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet, by Sir John Bowring (London: Trübner & Co., 1866), Internet Archive, the John Bowring translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sándor Petőfi, The World's Slavery, in Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet (1866), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petofi-poems-bowring/the-world-s-slavery.html, id L29815.
Form and metre
The World's Slavery is 12 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 AABBCCDDEFFE throngA · songA · noiseB · joysB · thereC · despairC · spiritD · itD · wholeE · retainF · chainF · soulE
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| What gaieties, what sports, what pleasures throng | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The world, so full of music and of song! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But ask the noisiest in the deadening noise, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| "Are these substantial joys?" | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| I doubt, I doubt: in the confusion there, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| I hear the loud explosions of despair; | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| While the chains clank, the half-demented spirit | 10 | ······˘/˘/ |
| Seeks in the turbulent clamour not to hear it; | 11 | ···/˘/˘···· |
| The world is but a jailer—holds our whole | 10 | ·····/˘·/· |
| Body and limbs in fetters; would retain | 10 | /˘···/˘·˘/ |
| Our very soul in slavery's cursed chain; | 9 | //˘··/˘·· |
| But that—we have no soul! | 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.