Callicles
The night was hot,And the feast past its prime: so we slipped out,Some of us, to the portico to breathe,--Peisianax, thou know’st, drinks late,--and then,As I was lifting my soiled garland off,I saw the mules and litter in the court,And in the litter sate Empedocles;Thou too wast with him. Straightway I sped home;I saddled my white mule, and all night longThrough the cool lovely country followed you,Passed you a little since as morning dawned,And have this hour sate by the torrent here,Till the slow mules should climb in sight again.And now?
Words in this poem
- sate v. t.
- To satisfy the desire or appetite of; to satiate; to glut; to surfeit. [Probably shortened fr. satiate: cf. L. satus full. See Satiate.]
- wast
- The second person singular of the verb be, in the indicative mood, imperfect tense; -- now used only in solemn or poetical style.
- straightway adv.
- Immediately; without loss of time; without delay.
- saddled a.
- Having a broad patch of color across the back, like a saddle; saddle-backed.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Callicles is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #54985; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Matthew Arnold, Callicles, in Poems (1849–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/arnold-poems/callicles.html, id L07028.
Form and metre
Callicles is 14 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.9 syllables. 7% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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- hot · out · breathe · thenA · off · court · empedocles · home · long · you · dawned · here · againA · now
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The night was hot, | 4 | ···· |
| And the feast past its prime: so we slipped out, | 10 | ·········· |
| Some of us, to the portico to breathe,-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Peisianax, thou know’st, drinks late,--and then, | 9 | ········· |
| As I was lifting my soiled garland off, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| I saw the mules and litter in the court, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And in the litter sate Empedocles; | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Thou too wast with him. Straightway I sped home; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I saddled my white mule, and all night long | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Through the cool lovely country followed you, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Passed you a little since as morning dawned, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And have this hour sate by the torrent here, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Till the slow mules should climb in sight again. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And now? | 2 | ·· |
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.