Twin-Born
He who possesses virtue at its best,Or greatness in the true sense of the word,Has one day started even with that herdWhose swift feet now speed but at sin's behest.It is the same force in the human breastWhich makes men gods or demons. If we girdThose strong emotions by which we are stirredWith might of will and purpose, heights unguessedShall dawn for us; or if we give them swayWe can sink down and consort with the lost.All virtue is worth just the price it cost.Black sin is oft white truth that missed its wayAnd wandered off in paths not understood.Twin-born I hold great evil and great good.
Words in this poem
- behest v. t.
- To vow. Paston.
- 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
Twin-Born 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, Twin-Born, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/twin-born.html, id L22219.
Form and metre
Twin-Born is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 ABBAABBACDDCEE bestA · wordB · herdB · behestA · breastA · girdB · stirredB · unguessedA · swayC · lostD · costD · wayC · understoodE · goodE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| He who possesses virtue at its best, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Or greatness in the true sense of the word, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Has one day started even with that herd | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Whose swift feet now speed but at sin's behest. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| It is the same force in the human breast | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Which makes men gods or demons. If we gird | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Those strong emotions by which we are stirred | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| With might of will and purpose, heights unguessed | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Shall dawn for us; or if we give them sway | 10 | ·········· |
| We can sink down and consort with the lost. | 10 | ·····˘/··· |
| All virtue is worth just the price it cost. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Black sin is oft white truth that missed its way | 10 | ·········· |
| And wandered off in paths not understood. | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Twin-born I hold great evil and great good. | 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.