If Nature be a phantasm, as thou say'st,
If Nature be a phantasm, as thou say'st,A splendid fiction and prodigious dream,To reach the real and true I'll make no haste,More than content with worlds that only seem.
Words in this poem
- prodigious a.
- Of the nature of a prodigy; marvelous; wonderful; portentous. [L. prodigiosus, fr. prodigium a prodigy; cf. F. prodigieux. See Prodigy.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
If Nature be a phantasm, as thou say'st, 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, If Nature be a phantasm, as thou say'st,, in The Poems of William Watson (1892–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13179, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/watson-poems/if-nature-be-a-phantasm-as-thou-say-st.html, id L26217.
Form and metre
If Nature be a phantasm, as thou say'st, is 4 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABAB. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
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 ABAB say'stA · dreamB · hasteA · seemB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| If Nature be a phantasm, as thou say'st, | 11 | ·/˘···/˘··· |
| A splendid fiction and prodigious dream, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| To reach the real and true I'll make no haste, | 10 | ·········· |
| More than content with worlds that only seem. | 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.