Progress
Let there be many windows to your soul,That all the glory of the universeMay beautify it. Not the narrow paneOf one poor creed can catch the radiant raysThat shine from countless sources. Tear awayThe blinds of superstition; let the lightPour through fair windows broad as Truth itselfAnd high as God.
Why should the spirit peerThrough some priest-curtained orifice, and gropeAlong dim corridors of doubt, when allThe splendor from unfathomed seas of spaceMight bathe it with the golden waves of Love?Sweep up the debris of decaying faiths;Sweep down the cobwebs of worn-out beliefs,And throw your soul wide open to the lightOf Reason and of Knowledge. Tune your earTo all the wordless music of the starsAnd to the voice of Nature, and your heartShall turn to truth and goodness as the plantTurns to the sun. A thousand unseen handsReach down to help you to their peace-crowned heights.And all the forces of the firmamentShall fortify your strength. Be not afraidTo thrust aside half-truths and grasp the whole.
Words in this poem
- pane n.
- The narrow edge of a hammer head. See Peen. [F. panne.]
- countless a.
- Incapable of being counted; not ascertainable; innumerable.
- wordless a.
- Not using words; not speaking; silent; speechless.
- 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,]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- firmament n.
- Fixed foundation; established basis. [L. firmamentum, fr. firmare to make firm: cf. F. firmament. See Firm, v. & a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Progress 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, Progress, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/progress.html, id L22191.
Form and metre
Progress is 25 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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.
- 2 A-------A--B--B-- peerA · grope · all · space · love · faiths · beliefs · light · earA · stars · heart · plantB · hands · heights · firmamentB · afraid · whole
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Let there be many windows to your soul, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| That all the glory of the universe | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| May beautify it. Not the narrow pane | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Of one poor creed can catch the radiant rays | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That shine from countless sources. Tear away | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The blinds of superstition; let the light | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Pour through fair windows broad as Truth itself | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And high as God. | 4 | ···· |
| Why should the spirit peer | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Through some priest-curtained orifice, and grope | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| Along dim corridors of doubt, when all | 10 | ˘/·/˘˘···· |
| The splendor from unfathomed seas of space | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Might bathe it with the golden waves of Love? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Sweep up the debris of decaying faiths; | 10 | ···˘/·˘/˘· |
| Sweep down the cobwebs of worn-out beliefs, | 10 | ···/····˘/ |
| And throw your soul wide open to the light | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of Reason and of Knowledge. Tune your ear | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| To all the wordless music of the stars | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And to the voice of Nature, and your heart | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Shall turn to truth and goodness as the plant | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Turns to the sun. A thousand unseen hands | 10 | ·····/˘˘/· |
| Reach down to help you to their peace-crowned heights. | 10 | ·········· |
| And all the forces of the firmament | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Shall fortify your strength. Be not afraid | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| To thrust aside half-truths and grasp the whole. | 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.