The Simplon Pass
--Brook and roadWere fellow-travellers in this gloomy Pass,And with them did we journey several hoursAt a slow step. The immeasurable heightOf woods decaying, never to be decayed,The stationary blasts of waterfalls,And in the narrow rent, at every turn,Winds thwarting winds bewildered and forlorn,The torrents shooting from the clear blue sky,The rocks that muttered close upon our ears,Black drizzling crags that spake by the waysideAs if a voice were in them, the sick sightAnd giddy prospect of the raving stream,The unfettered clouds and region of the heavens,Tumult and peace, the darkness and the light--Were all like workings of one mind, the featuresOf the same face, blossoms upon one tree,Characters of the great Apocalypse,The types and symbols of Eternity,Of first, and last, and midst, and without end.
Words in this poem
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- wayside n.
- The side of the way; the edge or border of a road or path.
- apocalypse n.
- The revelation delivered to St. John, in the isle of Patmos, near the close of the first century, forming the last book of the New Testament. [L. apocalypsis, Gr. apocalypse.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Simplon Pass 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, The Simplon Pass, in The Poetical Works, Volume II (1798–1807), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12145, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wordsworth-vol2/the-simplon-pass.html, id L17291.
Form and metre
The Simplon Pass is 20 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% 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 ---A-------A--A----- road · pass · hours · heightA · decayed · waterfalls · turn · forlorn · sky · ears · wayside · sightA · stream · heavens · lightA · features · tree · apocalypse · eternity · end
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 |
|---|---|---|
| --Brook and road | 3 | ··· |
| Were fellow-travellers in this gloomy Pass, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And with them did we journey several hours | 10 | ·····/˘/˘/ |
| At a slow step. The immeasurable height | 11 | ·····˘/˘·˘· |
| Of woods decaying, never to be decayed, | 10 | ··˘/˘/··˘/ |
| The stationary blasts of waterfalls, | 10 | ·/˘·˘··/˘· |
| And in the narrow rent, at every turn, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Winds thwarting winds bewildered and forlorn, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| The torrents shooting from the clear blue sky, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| The rocks that muttered close upon our ears, | 10 | ···/˘···/· |
| Black drizzling crags that spake by the wayside | 10 | ·/˘·····/· |
| As if a voice were in them, the sick sight | 10 | ·········· |
| And giddy prospect of the raving stream, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| The unfettered clouds and region of the heavens, | 12 | ·˘/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| Tumult and peace, the darkness and the light-- | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Were all like workings of one mind, the features | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Of the same face, blossoms upon one tree, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Characters of the great Apocalypse, | 9 | /˘···˘/˘· |
| The types and symbols of Eternity, | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| Of first, and last, and midst, and without end. | 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.