Wordsworth's Grave II
Poet who sleepest by this wandering wave!When thou wast born, what birth-gift hadst thou then?To thee what wealth was that the Immortals gave,The wealth thou gavest in thy turn to men?
Not Milton's keen, translunar music thine;Not Shakespeare's cloudless, boundless human view;Not Shelley's flush of rose on peaks divine;Nor yet the wizard twilight Coleridge knew.
What hadst thou that could make so large amendsFor all thou hadst not and thy peers possessed,Motion and fire, swift means to radiant ends?--Thou hadst, for weary feet, the gift of rest.
From Shelley's dazzling glow or thunderous haze,From Byron's tempest-anger, tempest-mirth,Men turned to thee and found--not blast and blaze,Tumult of tottering heavens, but peace on earth,
Nor peace that grows by Lethe, scentless flower,There in white languors to decline and cease;But peace whose names are also rapture, power,Clear sight, and love: for these are parts of peace.
Words in this poem
- wast
- The second person singular of the verb be, in the indicative mood, imperfect tense; -- now used only in solemn or poetical style.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- cloudless a.
- Without a cloud; clear; bright.
- thunderous a.
- Producing thunder. [Written also thundrous.]
- lethe n.
- A river of Hades whose waters when drunk caused forgetfulness of the past.
- scentless a.
- Having no scent.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Wordsworth's Grave II 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, Wordsworth's Grave II, in The Poems of William Watson (1892–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13179, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/watson-poems/wordsworth-s-grave-ii.html, id L11323.
Form and metre
Wordsworth's Grave II is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 5% 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 waveA · thenB · gaveA · menB
- 2 ABAB thineA · viewB · divineA · knewB
- 3 ABAB amendsA · possessedB · endsA · restB
- 4 ABAB hazeA · mirthB · blazeA · earthB
- 5 ABAB flowerA · ceaseB · powerA · peaceB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Poet who sleepest by this wandering wave! | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| When thou wast born, what birth-gift hadst thou then? | 10 | ·········· |
| To thee what wealth was that the Immortals gave, | 11 | ·······˘/˘· |
| The wealth thou gavest in thy turn to men? | 10 | ·········· |
| Not Milton's keen, translunar music thine; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Not Shakespeare's cloudless, boundless human view; | 10 | ·/·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Not Shelley's flush of rose on peaks divine; | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Nor yet the wizard twilight Coleridge knew. | 10 | ···/˘/·/˘· |
| What hadst thou that could make so large amends | 10 | ········˘/ |
| For all thou hadst not and thy peers possessed, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Motion and fire, swift means to radiant ends?-- | 10 | /˘·/···/˘· |
| Thou hadst, for weary feet, the gift of rest. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| From Shelley's dazzling glow or thunderous haze, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| From Byron's tempest-anger, tempest-mirth, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| Men turned to thee and found--not blast and blaze, | 10 | ·········· |
| Tumult of tottering heavens, but peace on earth, | 11 | /˘·/˘/˘···· |
| Nor peace that grows by Lethe, scentless flower, | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| There in white languors to decline and cease; | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| But peace whose names are also rapture, power, | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| Clear sight, and love: for these are parts of peace. | 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.