A Minor Poet
I am a shell. From me you shall not hearThe splendid tramplings of insistent drums,The orbed gold of the viol's voice that comes,Heavy with radiance, languorous and clear.Yet, if you hold me close against the ear,A dim, far whisper rises clamorously,The thunderous beat and passion of the sea,The slow surge of the tides that drown the mere.
Others with subtle hands may pluck the strings,Making even Love in music audible,And earth one glory. I am but a shellThat moves, not of itself, and moving sings;Leaving a fragrance, faint as wine new-shed,A tremulous murmur from great days long dead.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- insistent a.
- Standing or resting on something; as, an insistent wall. Sir H. [L. insistens, -entis, p. pr. of insistere.]
- orbed a.
- Having the form of an orb; round.
- languorous a.
- Producing, or tending to produce, languor; characterized by languor. [From Languor: cf. F. langoureux.]
- thunderous a.
- Producing thunder. [Written also thundrous.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Minor Poet is in the public domain. This text is taken from Young Adventure: A Book of Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #312; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Stephen Vincent Benét, A Minor Poet, in Young Adventure (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #312, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/benet-young-adventure/a-minor-poet.html, id L13397.
Form and metre
A Minor Poet is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 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 ABBAA--A hearA · drumsB · comesB · clearA · earA · clamorously · sea · mereA
- 2 ABBACC stringsA · audibleB · shellB · singsA · shedC · deadC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I am a shell. From me you shall not hear | 10 | ·········· |
| The splendid tramplings of insistent drums, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| The orbed gold of the viol's voice that comes, | 10 | ··˘······· |
| Heavy with radiance, languorous and clear. | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘˘·· |
| Yet, if you hold me close against the ear, | 10 | ·········· |
| A dim, far whisper rises clamorously, | 11 | ···/˘/˘···· |
| The thunderous beat and passion of the sea, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| The slow surge of the tides that drown the mere. | 10 | ·········· |
| Others with subtle hands may pluck the strings, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Making even Love in music audible, | 11 | /˘/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| And earth one glory. I am but a shell | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| That moves, not of itself, and moving sings; | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| Leaving a fragrance, faint as wine new-shed, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| A tremulous murmur from great days long dead. | 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.