Sisina
Imagine Diana in gorgeous array,How into the forests and thickets she flies,With her hair in the breezes, and flushed for the fray,How the very best riders she proudly defies.
Have you seen Théroigne, of the blood-thirsty heart,As an unshod herd to attack he bestirs,With cheeks all inflamed, playing up to his part,As he goes, sword in hand, up the royal stairs?
And so is Sisina--yet this warrior sweet,Has a soul with compassion and kindness replete,Inspired by drums and by powder, her sway
Knows how to concede to the supplicants' prayers,And her bosom, laid waste by the flames, has alway,For those that are worthy, a fountain of tears.
Words in this poem
- diana n.
- The daughter of Jupiter and Latona; a virgin goddess who presided over hunting, chastity, and marriage; -- identified with the Greek goddess Artemis. [L. Diana.]
- gorgeous a.
- Imposing through splendid or various colors; showy; fine; magnificent. [OF. gorgias beautiful, glorious, vain, luxurious; cf. OF. gorgias ruff, neck handkerchief, and F. gorge throat, and se pengorger to assume airs. Cf. Gorge, n.]
- replete a.
- Filled again; completely filled; full; charged; abounding. [L. repletus, p. p. of replere to fill again, fill up; pref. re- re- + plere to fill, akin to plenus full: cf. F. replet corpulent. See Plenty, Replenish.]
- concede v. t.
- To yield or suffer; to surrender; to grant; as. to concede the point in question. Boyle. [L. concedere, concessum; con- + cedere to go along, give way, yield: cf. F. concéder. See Cede.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sisina is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Flowers of Evil, Project Gutenberg ebook #36098; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Charles Baudelaire, Sisina, in The Flowers of Evil (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36098, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/baudelaire-flowers-of-evil/sisina.html, id L25423.
Form and metre
Sisina is 14 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in anapaestic tetrameter.
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 arrayA · fliesB · frayA · defiesB
- 2 ABAB heartA · bestirsB · partA · stairsB
- 3 AA- sweetA · repleteA · sway
- 4 A-A prayersA · alway · tearsA
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Imagine Diana in gorgeous array, | 11 | ˘/˘˘/˘·/˘˘/ |
| How into the forests and thickets she flies, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| With her hair in the breezes, and flushed for the fray, | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| How the very best riders she proudly defies. | 11 | ··/˘·/·/˘˘/ |
| Have you seen Théroigne, of the blood-thirsty heart, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| As an unshod herd to attack he bestirs, | 11 | ······˘/··· |
| With cheeks all inflamed, playing up to his part, | 11 | ···˘//˘···· |
| As he goes, sword in hand, up the royal stairs? | 11 | ········/˘· |
| And so is Sisina--yet this warrior sweet, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Has a soul with compassion and kindness replete, | 12 | ····˘/˘·/˘˘/ |
| Inspired by drums and by powder, her sway | 11 | ˘/˘····/˘·· |
| Knows how to concede to the supplicants' prayers, | 11 | ···˘/······ |
| And her bosom, laid waste by the flames, has alway, | 12 | ··/˘······/˘ |
| For those that are worthy, a fountain of tears. | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
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.