The Pilot
From the Past and UnavailingOut of cloudland we are steering;After groping, after fearing,Into starlight we come trailing,And we find the stars are true.Still, O comrade, what of you?You are gone, but we are sailing,And the old ways are all new.
For the Lost and UnreturningWe have drifted, we have waited;Uncommanded and unrated,We have tossed and wandered, yearningFor a charm that comes no moreFrom the old lights by the shore:We have shamed ourselves in learningWhat you knew so long before.
For the Breed of the Far-goingWho are strangers, and all brothers,May forget no more than othersWho look seaward with eyes flowing.But are brothers to bewailOne who fought so foul a gale?You have won beyond our knowing,You are gone, but yet we sail.
Words in this poem
- starlight n.
- The light given by the stars.
- seaward a.
- Directed or situated toward the sea. Donne.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Pilot is in the public domain. This text is taken from The town down the river, Project Gutenberg ebook #76699; 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 Pilot, in The Town Down the River (1910), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #76699, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/robinson-town-down-river/the-pilot.html, id L17211.
Form and metre
The Pilot is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBACCAC. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 14 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABBACCAC unavailingA · steeringB · fearingB · trailingA · trueC · youC · sailingA · newC
- 2 ABBACCAC unreturningA · waitedB · unratedB · yearningA · moreC · shoreC · learningA · beforeC
- 3 ABBACCAC goingA · brothersB · othersB · flowingA · bewailC · galeC · knowingA · sailC
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| From the Past and Unavailing | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Out of cloudland we are steering; | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| After groping, after fearing, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Into starlight we come trailing, | 8 | ··/···/˘ |
| And we find the stars are true. | 7 | ······· |
| Still, O comrade, what of you? | 7 | ··/···· |
| You are gone, but we are sailing, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And the old ways are all new. | 7 | ······· |
| For the Lost and Unreturning | 8 | ········ |
| We have drifted, we have waited; | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Uncommanded and unrated, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| We have tossed and wandered, yearning | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| For a charm that comes no more | 7 | ······· |
| From the old lights by the shore: | 7 | ······· |
| We have shamed ourselves in learning | 9 | ···˘˘/·/˘ |
| What you knew so long before. | 7 | ······· |
| For the Breed of the Far-going | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Who are strangers, and all brothers, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| May forget no more than others | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| Who look seaward with eyes flowing. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| But are brothers to bewail | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| One who fought so foul a gale? | 7 | ······· |
| You have won beyond our knowing, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| You are gone, but yet we sail. | 7 | ······· |
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.