The Glimpse
Just for a day you crossed my life's dull track,Put my ignobler dreams to sudden shame,Went your bright way, and left me to fall backOn my own world of poorer deed and aim;
To fall back on my meaner world, and feelLike one who, dwelling 'mid some, smoke-dimmed town,--In a brief pause of labour's sullen wheel,--'Scaped from the street's dead dust and factory's frown,--
In stainless daylight saw the pure seas roll,Saw mountains pillaring the perfect sky:Then journeyed home, to carry in his soulThe torment of the difference till he die.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- stainless a.
- Free from stain; immaculate.
- daylight n.
- The light of day as opposed to the darkness of night; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or to artificial light.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Glimpse 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 Glimpse, in The Poems of William Watson (1892–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13179, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/watson-poems/the-glimpse.html, id L11266.
Form and metre
The Glimpse is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 25% 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 ABAB trackA · shameB · backA · aimB
- 2 ABAB feelA · townB · wheelA · frownB
- 3 ABAB rollA · skyB · soulA · dieB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Just for a day you crossed my life's dull track, | 10 | ·········· |
| Put my ignobler dreams to sudden shame, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Went your bright way, and left me to fall back | 10 | ·········· |
| On my own world of poorer deed and aim; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To fall back on my meaner world, and feel | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Like one who, dwelling 'mid some, smoke-dimmed town,-- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| In a brief pause of labour's sullen wheel,-- | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| 'Scaped from the street's dead dust and factory's frown,-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| In stainless daylight saw the pure seas roll, | 10 | ·/˘/······ |
| Saw mountains pillaring the perfect sky: | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/·· |
| Then journeyed home, to carry in his soul | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| The torment of the difference till he die. | 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.