Nature
O Nature! I do not aspireTo be the highest in thy quire,--To be a meteor in the sky,Or comet that may range on high;Only a zephyr that may blowAmong the reeds by the river low;Give me thy most privy placeWhere to run my airy race.
In some withdrawn, unpublic meadLet me sigh upon a reed,Or in the woods, with leafy din,Whisper the still evening in:Some still work give me to do,--Only--be it near to you!
For I’d rather be thy childAnd pupil, in the forest wild,Than be the king of men elsewhere,And most sovereign slave of care:To have one moment of thy dawn,Than share the city’s year forlorn.
Words in this poem
- aspire v. t.
- To aspire to; to long for; to try to reach; to mount to.
- quire v. i.
- To sing in concert.
- zephyr n.
- The west wind; poetically, any soft, gentle breeze. [L. zephyrus, Gr. zéphyr.]
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Nature is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Nature, Project Gutenberg ebook #59988; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry David Thoreau, Nature, in Poems of Nature (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59988, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thoreau-poems/nature.html, id L02793.
Form and metre
Nature is 20 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 90% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AABBCCDD aspireA · quireA · skyB · highB · blowC · lowC · placeD · raceD
- 2 AABBCC meadA · reedA · dinB · inB · doC · youC
- 3 AABB-- childA · wildA · elsewhereB · careB · dawn · forlorn
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O Nature! I do not aspire | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| To be the highest in thy quire,-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To be a meteor in the sky, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or comet that may range on high; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Only a zephyr that may blow | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Among the reeds by the river low; | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Give me thy most privy place | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Where to run my airy race. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| In some withdrawn, unpublic mead | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Let me sigh upon a reed, | 7 | ······· |
| Or in the woods, with leafy din, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Whisper the still evening in: | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Some still work give me to do,-- | 7 | ······· |
| Only--be it near to you! | 7 | /˘····· |
| For I’d rather be thy child | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And pupil, in the forest wild, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Than be the king of men elsewhere, | 8 | ······/· |
| And most sovereign slave of care: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| To have one moment of thy dawn, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Than share the city’s year forlorn. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
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.