Will
O well for him whose will is strong!He suffers, but he will not suffer long;He suffers, but he cannot suffer wrong:For him nor moves the loud world's random mock,Nor all Calamity's hugest waves confound,Who seems a promontory of rock,That, compass'd round with turbulent sound,In middle ocean meets the surging shock,Tempest-buffeted, citadel-crown'd.
But ill for him who, bettering not with time,Corrupts the strength of heaven-descended Will,And ever weaker grows thro' acted crime,Or seeming-genial venial fault,Recurring and suggesting still!He seems as one whose footsteps halt,Toiling in immeasurable sand,And o'er a weary sultry land,Far beneath a blazing vault,Sown in a wrinkle of the monstrous hill,The city sparkles like a grain of salt.
About this text
Will is in the public domain. This text is taken from Maud, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #56913; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Alfred Tennyson, Will, in Poems (1832–1842), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56913, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-poems/will.html, id L03532.
Form and metre
Will is 20 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.0 syllables.
See other poems in iambic 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.
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 AAABCBCBC strongA · longA · wrongA · mockB · confoundC · rockB · soundC · shockB · crown'dC
- 2 ABACBCDDCBC timeA · willB · crimeA · faultC · stillB · haltC · sandD · landD · vaultC · hillB · saltC
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O well for him whose will is strong! | 8 | ········ |
| He suffers, but he will not suffer long; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| He suffers, but he cannot suffer wrong: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| For him nor moves the loud world's random mock, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Nor all Calamity's hugest waves confound, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Who seems a promontory of rock, | 9 | ···/˘˘˘·· |
| That, compass'd round with turbulent sound, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In middle ocean meets the surging shock, | 9 | ·/˘/··/˘· |
| Tempest-buffeted, citadel-crown'd. | 8 | /˘˘//˘·· |
| But ill for him who, bettering not with time, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Corrupts the strength of heaven-descended Will, | 10 | ˘/···/˘/˘· |
| And ever weaker grows thro' acted crime, | 9 | ·//˘··/˘· |
| Or seeming-genial venial fault, | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘· |
| Recurring and suggesting still! | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| He seems as one whose footsteps halt, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Toiling in immeasurable sand, | 9 | /˘·˘/˘·˘· |
| And o'er a weary sultry land, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Far beneath a blazing vault, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Sown in a wrinkle of the monstrous hill, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The city sparkles like a grain of salt. | 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.