I Will Be Worthy of It
I may not reach the heights I seek,My untried strength may fail me,Or, half-way up the mountain peak,Fierce tempests may assail me.But though that place I never gain,Herein lies comfort for my pain--I will be worthy of it.
I may not triumph in success,Despite my earnest labor;I may not grasp results that blessThe efforts of my neighbor;But though my goal I never see,This thought shall always dwell with me--I will be worthy of it.
The golden glory of Love's lightMay never fall on my way;My path may always lead through night,Like some deserted by-way;But though life's dearest joy I missThere lies a nameless strength in this--I will be worthy of it.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- nameless a.
- Without a name; not having been given a name; as, a nameless star.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
I Will Be Worthy of It 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, I Will Be Worthy of It, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/i-will-be-worthy-of-it.html, id L22209.
Form and metre
I Will Be Worthy of It is 21 lines in 3 stanzas of 7 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABABCC- seekA · meB · peakA · meB · gainC · painC · it
- 2 ABABCC- successA · laborB · blessA · neighborB · seeC · meC · it
- 3 ABABCC- lightA · wayB · nightA · wayB · missC · thisC · it
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I may not reach the heights I seek, | 8 | ········ |
| My untried strength may fail me, | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Or, half-way up the mountain peak, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Fierce tempests may assail me. | 7 | ·/˘·˘/· |
| But though that place I never gain, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Herein lies comfort for my pain-- | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| I will be worthy of it. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| I may not triumph in success, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Despite my earnest labor; | 7 | ˘/·/˘/˘ |
| I may not grasp results that bless | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| The efforts of my neighbor; | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| But though my goal I never see, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| This thought shall always dwell with me-- | 8 | ···/···· |
| I will be worthy of it. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| The golden glory of Love's light | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| May never fall on my way; | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| My path may always lead through night, | 8 | ···/···· |
| Like some deserted by-way; | 7 | ··˘/˘·· |
| But though life's dearest joy I miss | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| There lies a nameless strength in this-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I will be worthy of it. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
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.