Calais, August, 1802
Is it a reed that's shaken by the wind,Or what is it that ye go forth to see?Lords, lawyers, statesmen, squires of low degree,Men known, and men unknown, sick, lame, and blind,Post forward all, like creatures of one kind,With first-fruit offerings crowd to bend the kneeIn France, before the new-born Majesty.'Tis ever thus. Ye men of prostrate mind,A seemly reverence may be paid to power;But that's a loyal virtue, never sownIn haste, nor springing with a transient shower:When truth, when sense, when liberty were flown,What hardship had it been to wait an hour?Shame on you, feeble Heads, to slavery prone!
Words in this poem
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Calais, August, 1802 is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth — Volume 2 (of 8), Project Gutenberg ebook #12145; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Wordsworth, Calais, August, 1802, in The Brothers, and Other Poems (1798–1807), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12145, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wordsworth-vol2/calais-august-1802.html, id L17356.
Form and metre
Calais, August, 1802 is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.7 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABBAAB-ACDCDCD windA · seeB · degreeB · blindA · kindA · kneeB · majesty · mindA · powerC · sownD · showerC · flownD · hourC · proneD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Is it a reed that's shaken by the wind, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Or what is it that ye go forth to see? | 10 | ·········· |
| Lords, lawyers, statesmen, squires of low degree, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/··˘/ |
| Men known, and men unknown, sick, lame, and blind, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Post forward all, like creatures of one kind, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| With first-fruit offerings crowd to bend the knee | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| In France, before the new-born Majesty. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| 'Tis ever thus. Ye men of prostrate mind, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| A seemly reverence may be paid to power; | 10 | ·/˘/˘····/ |
| But that's a loyal virtue, never sown | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| In haste, nor springing with a transient shower: | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| When truth, when sense, when liberty were flown, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| What hardship had it been to wait an hour? | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| Shame on you, feeble Heads, to slavery prone! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
On this poem
Notes from the edition 1
William Knight's notes to The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Volume 2 (1896; Project Gutenberg #12145): Wordsworth's own Isabella Fenwick notes and Knight's headnotes on composition and publication, plus his lettered footnotes (restarting at A for every poem).
- Line 8 1807. Thus fares it ever. Men of prostrate mind! 1803.
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.