Solitude
Solitude is like a rainThat from the sea at dusk begins to rise;It floats remote across the far-off plainUpward into its dwelling-place, the skies,Then o'er the town it slowly sinks again.Like rain it softly falls at that dim hourWhen ghostly lanes turn toward the shadowy morn;When bodies weighed with satiate passion's powerSad, disappointed from each other turn;When men with quiet hatred burning deepTogether in a common bed must sleep--Through the gray, phantom shadows of the dawnLo! Solitude floats down the river wan ...
Words in this poem
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- satiate a.
- Filled to satiety; glutted; sated; -- followed by with or of. [L. satiatus, p. p. of satiare to satisfy, from sat, satis, enough. See Sad, a., and cf. Sate.]
- disappointed a.
- Defeated of expectation or hope; balked; as, a disappointed person or hope.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Solitude is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, translated by Jessie Lemont, with an introduction by H.T. (New York: Tobias A. Wright, 1918), Project Gutenberg ebook #38594, the Jessie Lemont 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: Rainer Maria Rilke, Solitude, in Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38594, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rilke-poems-lemont/solitude.html, id L27728.
Form and metre
Solitude is 13 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See 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 ABABAC-C-DD-- rainA · riseB · plainA · skiesB · againA · hourC · morn · powerC · turn · deepD · sleepD · dawn · wan
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Solitude is like a rain | 7 | /˘····· |
| That from the sea at dusk begins to rise; | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| It floats remote across the far-off plain | 10 | ··˘/˘/···· |
| Upward into its dwelling-place, the skies, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Then o'er the town it slowly sinks again. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Like rain it softly falls at that dim hour | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| When ghostly lanes turn toward the shadowy morn; | 11 | ·/˘·····/˘· |
| When bodies weighed with satiate passion's power | 11 | ·/˘··/˘˘/˘/ |
| Sad, disappointed from each other turn; | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| When men with quiet hatred burning deep | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Together in a common bed must sleep-- | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Through the gray, phantom shadows of the dawn | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| Lo! Solitude floats down the river wan ... | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
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.