Breadth and Depth
Full many a shining wit one sees,With tongue on all things well conversing;The what can charm, the what can please,In every nice detail rehearsing.Their raptures so transport the college,It seems one honeymoon of knowledge.
Yet out they go in silence whereThey whilom held their learned prate;Ah! he who would achieve the fair,Or sow the embryo of the great,Must hoard--to wait the ripening hour--In the least point the loftiest power.
With wanton boughs and pranksome hues,Aloft in air aspires the stem;The glittering leaves inhale the dews,But fruits are not concealed in them.From the small kernel's undiscerned reposeThe oak that lords it o'er the forest grows.
Words in this poem
- honeymoon n.
- The first month after marriage.
- whilom adv.
- Formerly; once; of old; erewhile; at times. [AS. hwilum, properly, at times, dative pl. of hwil; akin to G. weiland formerly, OHG. hwilm, See While, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Breadth and Depth is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Schiller — Third period, Project Gutenberg ebook #6796; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Friedrich Schiller, Breadth and Depth, in The Poems of Schiller: Third Period (1805), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/schiller-third-period/breadth-and-depth.html, id L21892.
Form and metre
Breadth and Depth is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABABCC seesA · conversingB · pleaseA · rehearsingB · collegeC · knowledgeC
- 2 ABABCC whereA · prateB · fairA · greatB · hourC · powerC
- 3 ABABCC huesA · stemB · dewsA · themB · reposeC · growsC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Full many a shining wit one sees, | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| With tongue on all things well conversing; | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| The what can charm, the what can please, | 8 | ········ |
| In every nice detail rehearsing. | 9 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Their raptures so transport the college, | 9 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| It seems one honeymoon of knowledge. | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Yet out they go in silence where | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| They whilom held their learned prate; | 8 | ·/˘···˘· |
| Ah! he who would achieve the fair, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Or sow the embryo of the great, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Must hoard--to wait the ripening hour-- | 8 | ·····/˘/ |
| In the least point the loftiest power. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| With wanton boughs and pranksome hues, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Aloft in air aspires the stem; | 8 | ˘/··˘/·· |
| The glittering leaves inhale the dews, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| But fruits are not concealed in them. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| From the small kernel's undiscerned repose | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| The oak that lords it o'er the forest grows. | 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.