A Sculptor
As the ambitious sculptor, tireless, liftsChisel and hammer to the block at hand,Before my half-formed character I standAnd ply the shining tools of mental gifts.I'll cut away a huge, unsightly sideOf selfishness, and smooth to curves of graceThe angles of ill-temper.
And no traceShall my sure hammer leave of silly pride.Chip after chip must fall from vain desires,And the sharp corners of my discontentBe rounded into symmetry, and lentGreat harmony by faith that never tires.Unfinished still, I must toil on and on,Till the pale critic, Death, shall say, "'Tis done."
Words in this poem
- sculptor n.
- One who sculptures; one whose occupation is to carve statues, or works of sculpture. [L. sculptor, fr. sculpere, sculptum, to carve; cf. scalpere to cut, carve, scratch, and Gr. sculpteur.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Sculptor is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Passion, Project Gutenberg ebook #16776; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ella Wheeler Wilcox, A Sculptor, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/a-sculptor.html, id L22196.
Form and metre
A Sculptor is 15 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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 ABBA--- liftsA · handB · standB · giftsA · side · grace · temper
- 2 --ABBA-- trace · pride · desiresA · discontentB · lentB · tiresA · on · done
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As the ambitious sculptor, tireless, lifts | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| Chisel and hammer to the block at hand, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Before my half-formed character I stand | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| And ply the shining tools of mental gifts. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| I'll cut away a huge, unsightly side | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Of selfishness, and smooth to curves of grace | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| The angles of ill-temper. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| And no trace | 3 | ··· |
| Shall my sure hammer leave of silly pride. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Chip after chip must fall from vain desires, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| And the sharp corners of my discontent | 10 | ···/˘··˘˘/ |
| Be rounded into symmetry, and lent | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| Great harmony by faith that never tires. | 11 | ·/˘˘···/˘/˘ |
| Unfinished still, I must toil on and on, | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| Till the pale critic, Death, shall say, "'Tis done." | 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.