Earnestness
The hurry of the times affects us soIn this swift rushing hour, we crowd and pressAnd thrust each other backward as we go,And do not pause to lay sufficient stressUpon that good, strong, true word, Earnestness.In our impetuous haste, could we but knowIts full, deep meaning, its vast import, oh,Then might we grasp the secret of success!In that receding age when men were great,The bone and sinew of their purpose layIn this one word. God likes an earnest soul--Too earnest to be eager. Soon or lateIt leaves the spent horde breathless by the way,And stands serene, triumphant at the goal.
Words in this poem
- sinew n.
- A tendon or tendonous tissue. See Tendon. [OE. sinewe, senewe, AS. sinu, seonu; akin to D. zenuw, OHG. senawa, G. sehne, Icel. sin, Sw. sena, Dan. sene; cf. Skr. snava. sq. root290.]
- horde n.
- A wandering troop or gang; especially, a clan or tribe of a nomadic people migrating from place to place for the sake of pasturage, plunder, etc.; a predatory multitude. Thomson. [F. horde (cf. G. horde), fr. Turk. ord, ordi, camp; of Tartar origin.]
- breathless a.
- Spent with labor or violent action; out of breath.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Earnestness 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, Earnestness, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/earnestness.html, id L22217.
Form and metre
Earnestness is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABBAABCDECDE. 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 ABABBAABCDECDE soA · pressB · goA · stressB · earnestnessB · knowA · ohA · successB · greatC · layD · soulE · lateC · wayD · goalE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The hurry of the times affects us so | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| In this swift rushing hour, we crowd and press | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| And thrust each other backward as we go, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And do not pause to lay sufficient stress | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Upon that good, strong, true word, Earnestness. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| In our impetuous haste, could we but know | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Its full, deep meaning, its vast import, oh, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Then might we grasp the secret of success! | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| In that receding age when men were great, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| The bone and sinew of their purpose lay | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| In this one word. God likes an earnest soul-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Too earnest to be eager. Soon or late | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| It leaves the spent horde breathless by the way, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And stands serene, triumphant at the goal. | 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.