Wordsworth's Grave V
Peace--peace--and rest! Ah, how the lyre is loth,Or powerless now, to give what all men seek!Either it deadens with ignoble slothOr deafens with shrill tumult, loudly weak.
Where is the singer whose large notes and clearCan heal and arm and plenish and sustain?Lo, one with empty music floods the ear,And one, the heart refreshing, tires the brain.
And idly tuneful, the loquacious throngFlutter and twitter, prodigal of time,And little masters make a toy of songTill grave men weary of the sound of rhyme.
And some go prankt in faded antique dress,Abhorring to be hale and glad and free;And some parade a conscious naturalness,The scholar's not the child's simplicity.
Enough;--and wisest who from words forbear.The kindly river rails not as it glides;And suave and charitable, the winning airChides not at all, or only him who chides.
Words in this poem
- plenish v. t.
- To replenish. T. Reeve. [See Replenish.]
- tuneful a.
- Harmonious; melodious; musical; as, tuneful notes.
- twitter n.
- One who twits, or reproaches; an upbraider. [From Twit.]
- naturalness n.
- The state or quality of being natural; conformity to nature.
- suave a.
- Sweet; pleasant; delightful; gracious or agreeable in manner; bland. [L. suavis sweet, pleasant: cf. F. suave. See Sweet, and cf. Suasion.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Wordsworth's Grave V 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 V, in The Poems of William Watson (1892–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13179, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/watson-poems/wordsworth-s-grave-v.html, id L11326.
Form and metre
Wordsworth's Grave V 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 87%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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 lothA · seekB · slothA · weakB
- 2 ABAB clearA · sustainB · earA · brainB
- 3 ABAB throngA · timeB · songA · rhymeB
- 4 ABAB dressA · freeB · naturalnessA · simplicityB
- 5 ABAB forbearA · glidesB · airA · chidesB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Peace--peace--and rest! Ah, how the lyre is loth, | 10 | ·········· |
| Or powerless now, to give what all men seek! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Either it deadens with ignoble sloth | 10 | /˘·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Or deafens with shrill tumult, loudly weak. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Where is the singer whose large notes and clear | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Can heal and arm and plenish and sustain? | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Lo, one with empty music floods the ear, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And one, the heart refreshing, tires the brain. | 10 | ····˘/˘/·· |
| And idly tuneful, the loquacious throng | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Flutter and twitter, prodigal of time, | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘˘·· |
| And little masters make a toy of song | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Till grave men weary of the sound of rhyme. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And some go prankt in faded antique dress, | 10 | ·····/˘˘/· |
| Abhorring to be hale and glad and free; | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| And some parade a conscious naturalness, | 11 | ··˘/·/˘/˘˘˘ |
| The scholar's not the child's simplicity. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘˘ |
| Enough;--and wisest who from words forbear. | 10 | ˘/·/˘···˘/ |
| The kindly river rails not as it glides; | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And suave and charitable, the winning air | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Chides not at all, or only him who chides. | 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.