Experience I
LIKE Crusoe with the bootless gold we standUpon the desert verge of death, and say:"What shall avail the woes of yesterdayTo buy to-morrow's wisdom, in the landWhose currency is strange unto our hand?In life's small market they had served to paySome late-found rapture, could we but delayTill Time hath matched our means to our demand."
But otherwise Fate wills it, for, behold,Our gathered strength of individual pain,When Time's long alchemy hath made it gold,Dies with us--hoarded all these years in vain,Since those that might be heir to it the mouldRenew, and coin themselves new griefs again.
Words in this poem
- bootless a.
- Unavailing; unprofitable; useless; without advantage or success. [From Boot profit.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- currency n.
- A continued or uninterrupted course or flow like that of a sream; as, the currency of time. Ayliffe. [Cf. LL. currentia a current, fr. L. currens, p. pr. of currere to run. See Current.]
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Experience I is in the public domain. This text is taken from Artemis to Actaeon, and Other Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #4549; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edith Wharton, Experience I, in Artemis to Actaeon, and Other Verse (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4549, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wharton-artemis/experience-i.html, id L22227.
Form and metre
Experience I is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 ABBAABBA standA · sayB · yesterdayB · landA · handA · payB · delayB · demandA
- 2 ABABAB beholdA · painB · goldA · vainB · mouldA · againB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| LIKE Crusoe with the bootless gold we stand | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Upon the desert verge of death, and say: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| "What shall avail the woes of yesterday | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| To buy to-morrow's wisdom, in the land | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Whose currency is strange unto our hand? | 10 | ·/˘˘····/· |
| In life's small market they had served to pay | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Some late-found rapture, could we but delay | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Till Time hath matched our means to our demand." | 10 | ····/··/˘/ |
| But otherwise Fate wills it, for, behold, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Our gathered strength of individual pain, | 10 | //˘···˘/˘· |
| When Time's long alchemy hath made it gold, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Dies with us--hoarded all these years in vain, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Since those that might be heir to it the mould | 10 | ·········· |
| Renew, and coin themselves new griefs again. | 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.