The Clerks
I did not think that I should find them thereWhen I came back again; but there they stood,As in the days they dreamed of when young bloodWas in their cheeks and women called them fair.Be sure, they met me with an ancient air, --And yes, there was a shop-worn brotherhoodAbout them; but the men were just as good,And just as human as they ever were.
And you that ache so much to be sublime,And you that feed yourselves with your descent,What comes of all your visions and your fears?Poets and kings are but the clerks of Time,Tiering the same dull webs of discontent,Clipping the same sad alnage of the years.
Words in this poem
- ache n.
- A name given to several species of plants; as, smallage, wild celery, parsley. Holland. [F. ache, L. apium parsley.]
- clipping n.
- The act of embracing.
- alnage n.
- Measurement (of cloth) by the ell; also, a duty for such measurement. [OF. alnage, aulnage, F. aunage, fr. OF. alne ell, of Ger. origin: cf. OHG. elina, Goth. aleina, cubit. See Ell.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Clerks 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, The Clerks, in The Children of the Night (1897), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #313, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/robinson-children-of-night/the-clerks.html, id L08006.
Form and metre
The Clerks is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 21% 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 ABBAABB- thereA · stoodB · bloodB · fairA · airA · brotherhoodB · goodB · were
- 2 ABCABC sublimeA · descentB · fearsC · timeA · discontentB · yearsC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I did not think that I should find them there | 10 | ·········· |
| When I came back again; but there they stood, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| As in the days they dreamed of when young blood | 10 | ·········· |
| Was in their cheeks and women called them fair. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Be sure, they met me with an ancient air, -- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And yes, there was a shop-worn brotherhood | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| About them; but the men were just as good, | 10 | ·········· |
| And just as human as they ever were. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And you that ache so much to be sublime, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And you that feed yourselves with your descent, | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| What comes of all your visions and your fears? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Poets and kings are but the clerks of Time, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Tiering the same dull webs of discontent, | 10 | /˘·····˘˘/ |
| Clipping the same sad alnage of the years. | 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.