The Ideal of Woman
Woman in everything yields to man; but in that which is highest,Even the manliest man yields to the woman most weak.But that highest,--what is it? The gentle radiance of triumphAs in thy brow upon me, beauteous Amanda, it beams.When o'er the bright shining disk the clouds of affliction are fleeting,Fairer the image appears, seen through the vapor of gold.Man may think himself free! thou art so,--for thou never knowestWhat is the meaning of choice,--know'st not necessity's name.That which thou givest, thou always givest wholly; but one art thou ever,Even thy tenderest sound is thine harmonious self.Youth everlasting dwells here, with fulness that never is exhausted,And with the flower at once pluckest thou the ripe golden fruit.
Words in this poem
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Ideal of Woman 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, The Ideal of Woman, in The Poems of Schiller: Third Period (1805), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/schiller-third-period/the-ideal-of-woman.html, id L21924.
Form and metre
The Ideal of Woman is 12 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Woman in everything yields to man; but in that which is highest, | 16 | /˘·/˘·········/˘ |
| Even the manliest man yields to the woman most weak. | 12 | /·······/˘·· |
| But that highest,--what is it? The gentle radiance of triumph | 15 | ··/˘····/˘/˘·/˘ |
| As in thy brow upon me, beauteous Amanda, it beams. | 15 | ·······/˘˘˘/˘·· |
| When o'er the bright shining disk the clouds of affliction are fleeting, | 16 | ····/˘····˘/˘·/˘ |
| Fairer the image appears, seen through the vapor of gold. | 14 | /˘·/˘˘/···/˘·· |
| Man may think himself free! thou art so,--for thou never knowest | 14 | ···˘/······//˘ |
| What is the meaning of choice,--know'st not necessity's name. | 13 | ···/˘····˘/˘· |
| That which thou givest, thou always givest wholly; but one art thou ever, | 17 | ······/···/˘····/ |
| Even thy tenderest sound is thine harmonious self. | 11 | /·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Youth everlasting dwells here, with fulness that never is exhausted, | 16 | ··˘/˘···/˘·/·˘/˘ |
| And with the flower at once pluckest thou the ripe golden fruit. | 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.