Odes II
My heart rebels against my generation,That talks of freedom and is slave to riches,And, toiling 'neath each day's ignoble burden,Boasts of the morrow.
No space for noonday rest or midnight watches,No purest joy of breathing under heaven!Wretched themselves, they heap, to make them happy,Many possessions.
But thou, O silent Mother, wise, immortal,To whom our toil is laughter,--take, divine one,This vanity away, and to thy loverGive what is needful:--
A staunch heart, nobly calm, averse to evil,The windy sky for breath, the sea, the mountain,A well-born, gentle friend, his spirit's brother,Ever beside him.
What would you gain, ye seekers, with your striving,Or what vast Babel raise you on your shoulders?You multiply distresses, and your childrenSurely will curse you.
O leave them rather friendlier gods, and fairerOrchards and temples, and a freer bosom!What better comfort have we, or what otherProfit in living,
Than to feed, sobered by the truth of Nature,Awhile upon her bounty and her beauty,And hand her torch of gladness to the agesFollowing after?
She hath not made us, like her other children,Merely for peopling of her spacious kingdoms,Beasts of the wild, or insects of the summer,Breeding and dying,
But also that we might, half knowing, worshipThe deathless beauty of her guiding vision,And learn to love, in all things mortal, onlyWhat is eternal.
Words in this poem
- noonday n.
- Midday; twelve o'clock in the day; noon.
- needful a.
- Full of need; in need or want; needy; distressing.
- nobly adv.
- Of noble extraction; as, nobly born or descended.
- averse a.
- Turned away or backward. [L. aversus, p. p. of avertere. See Avert.]
- babel n.
- The city and tower in the land of Shinar, where the confusion of languages took place. [Heb. Babel, the name of the capital of Babylonia; in Genesis associated with the idea of "confusion"]
- freer n.
- One who frees, or sets free.
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- bounty n.
- Goodness, kindness; virtue; worth. [OE. bounte goodness, kindness, F. bonté, fr. L. bonitas, fr. bonus good, for older duonus; cf. Skr. duvas honor, respect.]
- deathless a.
- Not subject to death, destruction, or extinction; immortal; undying; imperishable; as, deathless beings; deathless fame.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Odes II is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #49721; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: George Santayana, Odes II, in Poems (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49721, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/santayana-poems/odes-ii.html, id L21734.
Form and metre
Odes II is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in iambic hexameter.
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.
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| My heart rebels against my generation, | 11 | ··˘/····˘/˘ |
| That talks of freedom and is slave to riches, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| And, toiling 'neath each day's ignoble burden, | 11 | ·/˘···˘/˘/˘ |
| Boasts of the morrow. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| No space for noonday rest or midnight watches, | 11 | ···/˘··/·/˘ |
| No purest joy of breathing under heaven! | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| Wretched themselves, they heap, to make them happy, | 11 | /˘˘/·····/˘ |
| Many possessions. | 5 | /˘˘/˘ |
| But thou, O silent Mother, wise, immortal, | 11 | ···/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| To whom our toil is laughter,--take, divine one, | 11 | ··/··/˘·˘/· |
| This vanity away, and to thy lover | 11 | ·/˘˘˘/···/˘ |
| Give what is needful:-- | 5 | ···/˘ |
| A staunch heart, nobly calm, averse to evil, | 11 | ···/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| The windy sky for breath, the sea, the mountain, | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| A well-born, gentle friend, his spirit's brother, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Ever beside him. | 5 | /˘·/· |
| What would you gain, ye seekers, with your striving, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Or what vast Babel raise you on your shoulders? | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| You multiply distresses, and your children | 11 | ·/˘·˘/˘··/˘ |
| Surely will curse you. | 5 | /˘··· |
| O leave them rather friendlier gods, and fairer | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Orchards and temples, and a freer bosom! | 11 | /˘·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| What better comfort have we, or what other | 11 | ·/˘/˘····/˘ |
| Profit in living, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Than to feed, sobered by the truth of Nature, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Awhile upon her bounty and her beauty, | 11 | ˘/···/˘··/˘ |
| And hand her torch of gladness to the ages | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Following after? | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| She hath not made us, like her other children, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Merely for peopling of her spacious kingdoms, | 11 | /˘·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Beasts of the wild, or insects of the summer, | 11 | ·····/···/˘ |
| Breeding and dying, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| But also that we might, half knowing, worship | 11 | ·/˘····/˘/˘ |
| The deathless beauty of her guiding vision, | 11 | ·/˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| And learn to love, in all things mortal, only | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| What is eternal. | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
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.