The Sanctuary
If I could keep my innermost MeFearless, aloof and freeOf the least breath of love or hate,And not disconsolateAt the sick load of sorrow laid on men;If I could keep a sanctuary thereFree even of prayer,If I could do this, then,With quiet candor as I grew more wiseI could look even at God with grave forgiving eyes.
Words in this poem
- disconsolate n.
- Disconsolateness. Barrow.
- candor n.
- Whiteness; brightness; (as applied to moral conditions) usullied purity; innocence. [L. candor, fr. candëre; cf. F. candeur. See candid.]
- forgiving a.
- Disposed to forgive; inclined to overlook offenses; mild; merciful; compassionate; placable; as, a forgiving temper.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Sanctuary is in the public domain. This text is taken from Flame and Shadow, Project Gutenberg ebook #591; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sara Teasdale, The Sanctuary, in Flame and Shadow (1920), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #591, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/teasdale-flame-shadow/the-sanctuary.html, id L17014.
Form and metre
The Sanctuary is 10 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. 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AA--BCCBDD meA · freeA · hate · disconsolate · menB · thereC · prayerC · thenB · wiseD · eyesD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| If I could keep my innermost Me | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Fearless, aloof and free | 6 | /˘˘/·· |
| Of the least breath of love or hate, | 8 | ········ |
| And not disconsolate | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| At the sick load of sorrow laid on men; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| If I could keep a sanctuary there | 10 | ·····/˘·˘· |
| Free even of prayer, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| If I could do this, then, | 6 | ······ |
| With quiet candor as I grew more wise | 9 | ·//˘····· |
| I could look even at God with grave forgiving eyes. | 12 | ···/····˘/˘· |
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.