The Youth by the Brook
Beside the brook the boy reclinedAnd wove his flowery wreath,And to the waves the wreath consigned--The waves that danced beneath."So fleet mine hours," he sighed, "awayLike waves that restless flow:And so my flowers of youth decayLike those that float below."
"Ask not why I, alone on earth,Am sad in life's young time;To all the rest are hope and mirthWhen spring renews its prime.Alas! the music Nature makes,In thousand songs of gladness--While charming all around me, wakesMy heavy heart to sadness."
"Ah! vain to me the joys that breakFrom spring, voluptuous are;For only one 't is mine to seek--The near, yet ever far!I stretch my arms, that shadow-shapeIn fond embrace to hold;Still doth the shade the clasp escape--The heart is unconsoled!"
"Come forth, fair friend, come forth below,And leave thy lofty hall,The fairest flowers the spring can knowIn thy dear lap shall fall!Clear glides the brook in silver rolled,Sweet carols fill the air;The meanest hut hath space to holdA happy loving pair!"
Words in this poem
- reclined a.
- Falling or turned downward; reclinate.
- wove
- p. pr. & rare vb. n. of Weave.
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Youth by the Brook 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 Youth by the Brook, in The Poems of Schiller: Third Period (1805), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/schiller-third-period/the-youth-by-the-brook.html, id L21822.
Form and metre
The Youth by the Brook is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 ABABCDCD reclinedA · wreathB · consignedA · beneathB · awayC · flowD · decayC · belowD
- 2 ABABCDCD earthA · timeB · mirthA · primeB · makesC · gladnessD · wakesC · sadnessD
- 3 -A-ABCBC break · areA · seek · farA · shapeB · holdC · escapeB · unconsoledC
- 4 ABABCDCD belowA · hallB · knowA · fallB · rolledC · airD · holdC · pairD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Beside the brook the boy reclined | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| And wove his flowery wreath, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| And to the waves the wreath consigned-- | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The waves that danced beneath. | 6 | ······ |
| "So fleet mine hours," he sighed, "away | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| Like waves that restless flow: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And so my flowers of youth decay | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| Like those that float below." | 6 | ······ |
| "Ask not why I, alone on earth, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Am sad in life's young time; | 6 | ······ |
| To all the rest are hope and mirth | 8 | ········ |
| When spring renews its prime. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Alas! the music Nature makes, | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| In thousand songs of gladness-- | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| While charming all around me, wakes | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| My heavy heart to sadness." | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| "Ah! vain to me the joys that break | 8 | ········ |
| From spring, voluptuous are; | 7 | ··˘/˘˘· |
| For only one 't is mine to seek-- | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| The near, yet ever far! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I stretch my arms, that shadow-shape | 8 | ·····/·· |
| In fond embrace to hold; | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Still doth the shade the clasp escape-- | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The heart is unconsoled!" | 6 | ······ |
| "Come forth, fair friend, come forth below, | 8 | ········ |
| And leave thy lofty hall, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The fairest flowers the spring can know | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| In thy dear lap shall fall! | 6 | ······ |
| Clear glides the brook in silver rolled, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Sweet carols fill the air; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The meanest hut hath space to hold | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A happy loving pair!" | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
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.