Palladium
Set where the upper streams of Simois flow,Was the Palladium, high ’mid rock and wood;And Hector was in Ilium, far below,And fought, and saw it not; but there it stood!
It stood, and sun and moonshine rained their lightOn the pure columns of its glen-built hall.Backward and forward rolled the waves of fightRound Troy; but while this stood, Troy could not fall.
So, in its lovely moonlight, lives the soul.Mountains surround it, and sweet virgin air;Cold plashing, past it, crystal waters roll:We visit it by moments, ah, too rare!
Men will renew the battle in the plainTo-morrow: red with blood will Xanthus be;Hector and Ajax will be there again,Helen will come upon the wall to see.
Then we shall rust in shade, or shine in strife,And fluctuate ’twixt blind hopes and blind despairs,And fancy that we put forth all our life,And never know how with the soul it fares.
Still doth the soul, from its lone fastness high,Upon our life a ruling effluence send;And when it fails, fight as we will, we die;And, while it lasts, we cannot wholly end.
Words in this poem
- moonshine n.
- The light of the moon.
- plashing n.
- The cutting or bending and intertwining the branches of small trees, as in hedges.
- 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,]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- fluctuate v. i.
- To move as a wave; to roll hither and thither; to wave; to float backward and forward, as on waves; as, a fluctuating field of air. [L. fluctuatus, p.p. of fluctuare, to wave, fr. fluctus wave, fr. fluere, fluctum, to flow. See Fluent, and cf. Flotilla.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- fastness n.
- The state of being fast and firm; firmness; fixedness; security; faithfulness. [AS. fæstnes, fr. fæst fast. See Fast, a.]
- effluence n.
- A flowing out, or emanation. [Cf. F. effluence.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Palladium 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, Palladium, in Poems (1849–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/arnold-poems/palladium.html, id L07048.
Form and metre
Palladium is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 12% 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 ABAB flowA · woodB · belowA · stoodB
- 2 ABAB lightA · hallB · fightA · fallB
- 3 ABAB soulA · airB · rollA · rareB
- 4 ABAB plainA · beB · againA · seeB
- 5 ABAB strifeA · despairsB · lifeA · faresB
- 6 ABAB highA · sendB · dieA · endB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Set where the upper streams of Simois flow, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Was the Palladium, high ’mid rock and wood; | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| And Hector was in Ilium, far below, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘˘··· |
| And fought, and saw it not; but there it stood! | 10 | ·········· |
| It stood, and sun and moonshine rained their light | 10 | ·····/···· |
| On the pure columns of its glen-built hall. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Backward and forward rolled the waves of fight | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Round Troy; but while this stood, Troy could not fall. | 10 | ·········· |
| So, in its lovely moonlight, lives the soul. | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| Mountains surround it, and sweet virgin air; | 10 | /˘˘/···/˘· |
| Cold plashing, past it, crystal waters roll: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| We visit it by moments, ah, too rare! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Men will renew the battle in the plain | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| To-morrow: red with blood will Xanthus be; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Hector and Ajax will be there again, | 10 | /˘·/····˘/ |
| Helen will come upon the wall to see. | 10 | /˘········ |
| Then we shall rust in shade, or shine in strife, | 10 | ·········· |
| And fluctuate ’twixt blind hopes and blind despairs, | 11 | ·/˘······˘/ |
| And fancy that we put forth all our life, | 10 | ·/˘·····/· |
| And never know how with the soul it fares. | 9 | ·/······· |
| Still doth the soul, from its lone fastness high, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Upon our life a ruling effluence send; | 10 | ··/··/˘/˘· |
| And when it fails, fight as we will, we die; | 10 | ·········· |
| And, while it lasts, we cannot wholly end. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
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