The Mock Self
Few friends are mine, though many wights there beWho, meeting oft a phantasm that makes claimTo be myself, and hath my face and name,And whose thin fraud I wink at privily,Account this light impostor very me.What boots it undeceive them, and proclaimMyself myself, and whelm this cheat with shame?I care not, so he leave my true self free,Impose not on me also; but alas!I too, at fault, bewildered, sometimes takeHim for myself, and far from mine own sight,Torpid, indifferent, doth mine own self pass;And yet anon leaps suddenly awake,And spurns the gibbering mime into the night.
Words in this poem
- privily adv.
- In a privy manner; privately; secretly. Chaucer. 2 Pet. ii. 1.
- undeceive v. t.
- To cause to be no longer deceived; to free from deception, fraud, fallacy, or mistake. South. [1st pref. un- + deceive.]
- whelm v. t.
- To cover with water or other fluid; to cover by immersion in something that envelops on all sides; to overwhelm; to ingulf.
- anon adv.
- Straightway; at once. [OE. anoon, anon, anan, lit., in one (moment), fr. AS. on in + an one. See On and One.]
- mime v. i.
- To mimic. -- Mim"er, n.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Mock Self 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 Mock Self, in The Poems of William Watson (1892–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13179, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/watson-poems/the-mock-self.html, id L11248.
Form and metre
The Mock Self is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% 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 ABB-ABBACDECDE beA · claimB · nameB · privily · meA · proclaimB · shameB · freeA · alasC · takeD · sightE · passC · awakeD · nightE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Few friends are mine, though many wights there be | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Who, meeting oft a phantasm that makes claim | 11 | ·/˘···/˘··· |
| To be myself, and hath my face and name, | 10 | ···/······ |
| And whose thin fraud I wink at privily, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Account this light impostor very me. | 10 | ˘/··˘/˘/˘· |
| What boots it undeceive them, and proclaim | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Myself myself, and whelm this cheat with shame? | 10 | ·/·/······ |
| I care not, so he leave my true self free, | 10 | ·········· |
| Impose not on me also; but alas! | 10 | ˘/···/˘·˘/ |
| I too, at fault, bewildered, sometimes take | 10 | ····˘/˘/·· |
| Him for myself, and far from mine own sight, | 10 | ···/······ |
| Torpid, indifferent, doth mine own self pass; | 10 | /˘˘/˘····· |
| And yet anon leaps suddenly awake, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘˘˘/ |
| And spurns the gibbering mime into the night. | 11 | ··········· |
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.