George Crabbe
Give him the darkest inch your shelf allows,Hide him in lonely garrets, if you will, --But his hard, human pulse is throbbing stillWith the sure strength that fearless truth endows.In spite of all fine science disavows,Of his plain excellence and stubborn skillThere yet remains what fashion cannot kill,Though years have thinned the laurel from his brows.
Whether or not we read him, we can feelFrom time to time the vigor of his nameAgainst us like a finger for the shameAnd emptiness of what our souls revealIn books that are as altars where we kneelTo consecrate the flicker, not the flame.
Words in this poem
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
- flicker v. i.
- To flutter; to flap the wings without flying. [OE. flikeren, flekeren, to flutter, AS. flicerian, flicorian, cf. D. flikkeren to sparkle. Flacker.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
George Crabbe is in the public domain. This text is taken from Children of the Night, Project Gutenberg ebook #313; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edwin Arlington Robinson, George Crabbe, in The Children of the Night (1897), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #313, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/robinson-children-of-night/george-crabbe.html, id L08016.
Form and metre
George Crabbe is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABBAABBA allowsA · willB · stillB · endowsA · disavowsA · skillB · killB · browsA
- 2 ABBAAB feelA · nameB · shameB · revealA · kneelA · flameB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Give him the darkest inch your shelf allows, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Hide him in lonely garrets, if you will, -- | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| But his hard, human pulse is throbbing still | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| With the sure strength that fearless truth endows. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| In spite of all fine science disavows, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Of his plain excellence and stubborn skill | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| There yet remains what fashion cannot kill, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Though years have thinned the laurel from his brows. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Whether or not we read him, we can feel | 10 | ·········· |
| From time to time the vigor of his name | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Against us like a finger for the shame | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And emptiness of what our souls reveal | 10 | ·/˘˘··/·˘/ |
| In books that are as altars where we kneel | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To consecrate the flicker, not the flame. | 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.