The Blind Summit
So mounts the child of ages of desire,Man, up the steeps of Thought; and would beholdYet purer peaks, touched with unearthlier fire,In sudden prospect virginally new;But on the lone last height he sighs: "'Tis cold,And clouds shut out the view."
Ah, doom of mortals! Vexed with phantoms old,Old phantoms that waylay us and pursue,--Weary of dreams,--we think to see unfoldThe eternal landscape of the Real and True;And on our Pisgah can but write: "'Tis cold,And clouds shut out the view."
Words in this poem
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- waylay v. t.
- To lie in wait for; to meet or encounter in the way; especially, to watch for the passing of, with a view to seize, rob, or slay; to beset in ambush. [Way + lay.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Blind Summit 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, The Blind Summit, in The Poems of William Watson (1892–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13179, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/watson-poems/the-blind-summit.html, id L11262.
Form and metre
The Blind Summit is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.6 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% 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 ABACBC desireA · beholdB · fireA · newC · coldB · viewC
- 2 ABABAB oldA · pursueB · unfoldA · trueB · coldA · viewB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| So mounts the child of ages of desire, | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| Man, up the steeps of Thought; and would behold | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Yet purer peaks, touched with unearthlier fire, | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| In sudden prospect virginally new; | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| But on the lone last height he sighs: "'Tis cold, | 10 | ·········· |
| And clouds shut out the view." | 6 | ······ |
| Ah, doom of mortals! Vexed with phantoms old, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Old phantoms that waylay us and pursue,-- | 10 | ·/˘·/···˘/ |
| Weary of dreams,--we think to see unfold | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| The eternal landscape of the Real and True; | 11 | ·˘/˘/······ |
| And on our Pisgah can but write: "'Tis cold, | 10 | ··/······· |
| And clouds shut out the view." | 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.