Zenith and Nadir
Wheresoever thou wanderest in space, thy Zenith and NadirUnto the heavens knit thee, unto the axis of earth.Howsoever thou attest, let heaven be moved by thy purpose,Let the aim of thy deeds traverse the axis of earth!
Words in this poem
- nadir n.
- That point of the heavens, or lower hemisphere, directly opposite the zenith; the inferior pole of the horizon; the point of the celestial sphere directly under the place where we stand. [F., Sp., & It. nadir; all fr. Ar. nasiru's samt nadir, prop., the point opposite the zenith (as samt), in which nasir means alike, corresponding to. Cf. Azimuth]
- howsoever conj.
- In what manner soever; to whatever degree or extent; however. [How + so + ever.]
- attest v. t.
- To bear witness to; to certify; to affirm to be true or genuine; as, to attest the truth of a writing, a copy of record. [L. attestari; ad + testari to bear witness: cf. F. attester.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Zenith and Nadir 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, Zenith and Nadir, in The Poems of Schiller: Third Period (1805), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/schiller-third-period/zenith-and-nadir.html, id L21911.
Form and metre
Zenith and Nadir is 4 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 nadir · earthA · purpose · earthA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wheresoever thou wanderest in space, thy Zenith and Nadir | 15 | ·····/˘···/˘·/˘ |
| Unto the heavens knit thee, unto the axis of earth. | 14 | ···/˘·····/˘·· |
| Howsoever thou attest, let heaven be moved by thy purpose, | 14 | ····˘/·/····/˘ |
| Let the aim of thy deeds traverse the axis of earth! | 13 | ······˘/·/˘·· |
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.