Lux Perdita
Thine were the weak, slight handsThat might have taken this strong soul, and bentIts stubborn substance to thy soft intent,And bound it unresisting, with such bandsAs not the arm of envious heaven had rent.
Thine were the calming eyesThat round my pinnace could have stilled the sea,And drawn thy voyager home, and bid him bePure with their pureness, with their wisdom wise,Merged in their light, and greatly lost in thee.
But thou--thou passed'st on,With whiteness clothed of dedicated days,Cold, like a star; and me in alien waysThou leftest following life's chance lure, where shoneThe wandering gleam that beckons and betrays.
Words in this poem
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
- voyager n.
- One who voyages; one who sails or passes by sea or water. [Cf. F. voyager traveling.]
- pureness n.
- The state of being pure (in any sense of the adjective).
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lux Perdita 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, Lux Perdita, in The Poems of William Watson (1892–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13179, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/watson-poems/lux-perdita.html, id L11270.
Form and metre
Lux Perdita is 15 lines in 3 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABBAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.2 syllables. 47% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABBAB handsA · bentB · intentB · bandsA · rentB
- 2 ABBAB eyesA · seaB · beB · wiseA · theeB
- 3 -AA-A on · daysA · waysA · shone · betraysA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thine were the weak, slight hands | 6 | ······ |
| That might have taken this strong soul, and bent | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Its stubborn substance to thy soft intent, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| And bound it unresisting, with such bands | 10 | ·········· |
| As not the arm of envious heaven had rent. | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| Thine were the calming eyes | 6 | ···/˘· |
| That round my pinnace could have stilled the sea, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And drawn thy voyager home, and bid him be | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Pure with their pureness, with their wisdom wise, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Merged in their light, and greatly lost in thee. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But thou--thou passed'st on, | 6 | ······ |
| With whiteness clothed of dedicated days, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘˘· |
| Cold, like a star; and me in alien ways | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Thou leftest following life's chance lure, where shone | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| The wandering gleam that beckons and betrays. | 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.