Art Maxims
Often ornatenessGoes with greatness;Oftener felicityComes of simplicity.
Talent that's cheapestAffects singularity.Thoughts that dive deepestRise radiant in clarity.
Life is rough:Sing smoothly, O Bard.Enough, enough,To have found life hard.
No record Art keepsOf her travail and throes.There is toil on the steeps,--On the summits, repose.
Words in this poem
- ornateness n.
- The quality of being ornate.
- singularity n.
- The quality or state of being singular; some character or quality of a thing by which it is distinguished from all, or from most, others; peculiarity. [L. singularitas: cf. F. singularité.]
- clarity n.
- Clearness; brightness; splendor. [L. claritas, fr. clarus clear: cf. F. clarté.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Art Maxims is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of William Watson, Project Gutenberg ebook #13179; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Watson, Art Maxims, in The Poems of William Watson (1892–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13179, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/watson-poems/art-maxims.html, id L11265.
Form and metre
Art Maxims is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%). 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.4 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 31% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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 AABB ornatenessA · greatnessA · felicityB · simplicityB
- 2 ABAB cheapestA · singularityB · deepestA · clarityB
- 3 ABAB roughA · bardB · enoughA · hardB
- 4 -A-A keeps · throesA · steeps · reposeA
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 trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Often ornateness | 5 | /˘˘/˘ |
| Goes with greatness; | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Oftener felicity | 7 | /˘˘˘/˘˘ |
| Comes of simplicity. | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| Talent that's cheapest | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Affects singularity. | 7 | ˘/····· |
| Thoughts that dive deepest | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Rise radiant in clarity. | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| Life is rough: | 3 | ··· |
| Sing smoothly, O Bard. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Enough, enough, | 4 | ˘/˘/ |
| To have found life hard. | 5 | ····· |
| No record Art keeps | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| Of her travail and throes. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| There is toil on the steeps,-- | 6 | ······ |
| On the summits, repose. | 6 | ··/˘˘/ |
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.