The Apprehension
If this I did not every moment see,And if my thoughts did strayAt any time, or idly play,And fix on other objects, yetThis Apprehension setIn meWas all my whole felicity.
About this text
The Apprehension is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Thomas Traherne, 1636?-1674, from the original manuscripts, Project Gutenberg ebook #61586; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Traherne, The Apprehension, in Poetical Works (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #61586, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/traherne-poems/the-apprehension.html, id L13306.
Form and metre
The Apprehension is 7 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines. The lines average 6.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in rhyming couplets.
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 ABBCCA- seeA · strayB · playB · yetC · setC · meA · felicity
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| If this I did not every moment see, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And if my thoughts did stray | 6 | ······ |
| At any time, or idly play, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And fix on other objects, yet | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| This Apprehension set | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| In me | 2 | ·· |
| Was all my whole felicity. | 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.