Human Knowledge
Since thou readest in her what thou thyself hast there written,And, to gladden the eye, placest her wonders in groups;--Since o'er her boundless expanses thy cords to extend thou art able,Thou dost think that thy mind wonderful Nature can grasp.Thus the astronomer draws his figures over the heavens,So that he may with more ease traverse the infinite space,Knitting together e'en suns that by Sirius-distance are parted,Making them join in the swan and in the horns of the bull.But because the firmament shows him its glorious surface,Can he the spheres' mystic dance therefore decipher aright?
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- gladden v. t.
- To make glad; to cheer; to please; to gratify; to rejoice; to exhilarate. [See Glad, v. t.]
- firmament n.
- Fixed foundation; established basis. [L. firmamentum, fr. firmare to make firm: cf. F. firmament. See Firm, v. & a.]
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- decipher v. t.
- To translate from secret characters or ciphers into intelligible terms; as, to decipher a letter written in secret characters. [Pref. de- + cipher. Formed in imitation of F. déchiffrer. See Cipher.]
- aright adv.
- Rightly; correctly; in a right way or form; without mistake or crime; as, to worship God aright. [Pref. a- + right.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Human Knowledge 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, Human Knowledge, in The Poems of Schiller: Third Period (1805), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/schiller-third-period/human-knowledge.html, id L21889.
Form and metre
Human Knowledge is 10 lines in a single stanza. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
See other poems in iambic 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 -----A--A- written · groups · able · grasp · heavens · spaceA · parted · bull · surfaceA · aright
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Since thou readest in her what thou thyself hast there written, | 14 | ··/˘····˘/··/˘ |
| And, to gladden the eye, placest her wonders in groups;-- | 13 | ··/˘··/˘·/˘·· |
| Since o'er her boundless expanses thy cords to extend thou art able, | 17 | ···/˘˘/˘···˘/··/˘ |
| Thou dost think that thy mind wonderful Nature can grasp. | 13 | ······/˘˘/˘·· |
| Thus the astronomer draws his figures over the heavens, | 15 | ··˘/˘˘··/˘···/˘ |
| So that he may with more ease traverse the infinite space, | 14 | ·······˘/·/˘˘· |
| Knitting together e'en suns that by Sirius-distance are parted, | 17 | /˘˘/˘····/˘˘/˘·/˘ |
| Making them join in the swan and in the horns of the bull. | 14 | /˘············ |
| But because the firmament shows him its glorious surface, | 15 | ····/˘˘···/˘˘/˘ |
| Can he the spheres' mystic dance therefore decipher aright? | 14 | ····/˘···˘/˘˘/ |
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.