Solitude
Happy the man, whose wish and careA few paternal acres bound,Content to breathe his native airIn his own ground.
Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,Whose flocks supply him with attire;Whose trees in summer yield him shade,In winter fire.
Blest, who can unconcern’dly findHours, days, and years slide soft awayIn health of body, peace of mind,Quiet by day,
Sound sleep by night; study and easeTogether mixt, sweet recreation,And innocence, which most does pleaseWith meditation.
Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;Thus unlamented let me die;Steal from the world, and not a stoneTell where I lie.
Words in this poem
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Solitude is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, Solitude, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/solitude.html, id L25305.
Form and metre
Solitude is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 ABAB careA · boundB · airA · groundB
- 2 ABAB breadA · attireB · shadeA · fireB
- 3 ABAB findA · awayB · mindA · dayB
- 4 ABAB easeA · recreationB · pleaseA · meditationB
- 5 ABAB unknownA · dieB · stoneA · lieB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Happy the man, whose wish and care | 8 | /˘······ |
| A few paternal acres bound, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Content to breathe his native air | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| In his own ground. | 4 | ···· |
| Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread, | 8 | ········ |
| Whose flocks supply him with attire; | 9 | ··˘/··˘/˘ |
| Whose trees in summer yield him shade, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In winter fire. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Blest, who can unconcern’dly find | 8 | ········ |
| Hours, days, and years slide soft away | 8 | /·····˘/ |
| In health of body, peace of mind, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Quiet by day, | 4 | /˘·· |
| Sound sleep by night; study and ease | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Together mixt, sweet recreation, | 9 | ˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| And innocence, which most does please | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| With meditation. | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Thus let me live, unseen, unknown; | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| Thus unlamented let me die; | 8 | ········ |
| Steal from the world, and not a stone | 8 | ········ |
| Tell where I lie. | 4 | ···· |
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.