The Words of Belief
Three words will I name thee--around and about,From the lip to the lip, full of meaning, they flee;But they had not their birth in the being without,And the heart, not the lip, must their oracle be!And all worth in the man shall forever be o'erWhen in those three words he believes no more.
Man is made free!--Man by birthright is free,Though the tyrant may deem him but born for his tool.Whatever the shout of the rabble may be--Whatever the ranting misuse of the fool--Still fear not the slave, when he breaks from his chain,For the man made a freeman grows safe in his gain.
And virtue is more than a shade or a sound,And man may her voice, in this being, obey;And though ever he slip on the stony ground,Yet ever again to the godlike way,To the science of good though the wise may be blind,Yet the practice is plain to the childlike mind.
And a God there is!--over space, over time,While the human will rocks, like a reed, to and fro,Lives the will of the holy--a purpose sublime,A thought woven over creation below;Changing and shifting the all we inherit,But changeless through all one immutable spirit
Hold fast the three words of belief--though aboutFrom the lip to the lip, full of meaning, they flee;Yet they take not their birth from the being without--But a voice from within must their oracle be;And never all worth in the man can be o'er,Till in those three words he believes no more.
Words in this poem
- oracle v. i.
- To utter oracles.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
- childlike a.
- Resembling a child, or that which belongs to children; becoming a child; meek; submissive; dutiful.
- changeless a.
- That can not be changed; constant; as, a changeless purpose.
- immutable a.
- Not mutable; not capable or susceptible of change; unchangeable; unalterable. [L. immutabilis; pref. im- not + mutabilis mutable. See Mutable.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Words of Belief 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 Words of Belief, in The Poems of Schiller: Third Period (1805), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/schiller-third-period/the-words-of-belief.html, id L21884.
Form and metre
The Words of Belief is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABCC, in 2 of the 5 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in anapaestic 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 ABAB-- aboutA · fleeB · withoutA · beB · o'er · more
- 2 ABABCC freeA · toolB · beA · foolB · chainC · gainC
- 3 ABABCC soundA · obeyB · groundA · wayB · blindC · mindC
- 4 ABAB-- timeA · froB · sublimeA · belowB · inherit · spirit
- 5 ABAB-- aboutA · fleeB · withoutA · beB · o'er · more
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Three words will I name thee--around and about, | 11 | ··········· |
| From the lip to the lip, full of meaning, they flee; | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| But they had not their birth in the being without, | 11 | ········/·· |
| And the heart, not the lip, must their oracle be! | 11 | ········/˘· |
| And all worth in the man shall forever be o'er | 12 | ·······˘/˘·· |
| When in those three words he believes no more. | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Man is made free!--Man by birthright is free, | 10 | ······/··· |
| Though the tyrant may deem him but born for his tool. | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| Whatever the shout of the rabble may be-- | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| Whatever the ranting misuse of the fool-- | 11 | ·/˘·/˘˘/··· |
| Still fear not the slave, when he breaks from his chain, | 11 | ··········· |
| For the man made a freeman grows safe in his gain. | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| And virtue is more than a shade or a sound, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| And man may her voice, in this being, obey; | 11 | ·······/˘˘/ |
| And though ever he slip on the stony ground, | 11 | ··/˘····/˘· |
| Yet ever again to the godlike way, | 10 | ·/˘˘/··/˘· |
| To the science of good though the wise may be blind, | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| Yet the practice is plain to the childlike mind. | 11 | ··/˘····/·· |
| And a God there is!--over space, over time, | 11 | ··········· |
| While the human will rocks, like a reed, to and fro, | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| Lives the will of the holy--a purpose sublime, | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘˘/ |
| A thought woven over creation below; | 11 | ··/˘··˘/˘·· |
| Changing and shifting the all we inherit, | 11 | /˘·/˘···˘/˘ |
| But changeless through all one immutable spirit | 12 | ·/˘···˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Hold fast the three words of belief--though about | 11 | ······˘/··· |
| From the lip to the lip, full of meaning, they flee; | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| Yet they take not their birth from the being without-- | 11 | ········/·· |
| But a voice from within must their oracle be; | 11 | ········/˘· |
| And never all worth in the man can be o'er, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Till in those three words he believes no more. | 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.