Variety
Many are good and wise; yet all for one only reckon,For 'tis conception, alas, rules them, and not a fond heart.Sad is the sway of conception,--from thousandfold varying figures,Needy and empty but one it is e'er able to bring.But where creative beauty is ruling, there life and enjoymentDwell; to the ne'er-changing One, thousands of new forms she gives.
Words in this poem
- thousandfold a.
- Multiplied by a thousand.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Variety 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, Variety, in The Poems of Schiller: Third Period (1805), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/schiller-third-period/variety.html, id L21904.
Form and metre
Variety is 6 lines in a single stanza. The metre is dactylic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
See other poems in dactylic 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.
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 dactylic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Many are good and wise; yet all for one only reckon, | 13 | /········/˘/˘ |
| For 'tis conception, alas, rules them, and not a fond heart. | 14 | ··˘/˘˘/······· |
| Sad is the sway of conception,--from thousandfold varying figures, | 16 | ·····˘/˘·/˘˘/˘/˘ |
| Needy and empty but one it is e'er able to bring. | 14 | /˘·/˘·····/˘·· |
| But where creative beauty is ruling, there life and enjoyment | 16 | ··˘/˘/˘·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Dwell; to the ne'er-changing One, thousands of new forms she gives. | 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.