Music
My friend went to the piano; spun the stoolA little higher; left his pipe to cool;Picked up a fat green volume from the chest;And propped it open.Whitely without rest,His fingers swept the keys that flashed like swords,... And to the brute drums of barbarian hordes,Roaring and thunderous and weapon-bare,An army stormed the bastions of the air!Dreadful with banners, fire to slay and parch,Marching together as the lightnings march,And swift as storm-clouds. Brazen helms and carsClanged to a fierce resurgence of old warsAbove the screaming horns. In state they passed,Trampling and splendid on and sought the vast --Rending the darkness like a leaping knife,The flame, the noble pageant of our life!The burning seal that stamps man's high indentureTo vain attempt and most forlorn adventure;Romance, and purple seas, and toppling towns,And the wind's valiance crying o'er the downs;That nerves the silly hand, the feeble brain,From the loose net of words to deeds againAnd to all courage! Perilous and sharpThe last chord shook me as wind shakes a harp!... And my friend swung round on his stool, and from gods we were men,"How pretty!" we said; and went on with our talk again.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- whitely a.
- Like, or coming near to, white.
- thunderous a.
- Producing thunder. [Written also thundrous.]
- dreadful a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- parch v. t.
- To burn the surface of; to scorch; to roast over the fire, as dry grain; as, to parch the skin; to parch corn. [OE. perchen to pierce, hence used of a piercing heat or cold, OF. perchier, another form of percier, F. percer. See Pierce.]
- resurgence n.
- The act of rising again; resurrection.
- screaming a.
- Uttering screams; shrieking.
- pageant n.
- A theatrical exhibition; a spectacle. [OE. pagent, pagen, originally, a movable scaffold or stage, hence, what was exhibited on it, fr. LL. pagina, akin to pangere to fasten; cf. L. pagina page, leaf]
- indenture n.
- The act of indenting, or state of being indented. [OE. endenture, OF. endenture, LL. indentura a deed in duplicate, with indented edges. See the Note below. See Indent.]
- 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]
- valiance n.
- The quality or state of being valiant; bravery; valor. [Cf. F. vaillance. See Valiant.]
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Music 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, Music, in Young Adventure (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #312, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/benet-young-adventure/music.html, id L13400.
Form and metre
Music is 27 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 74% of the lines: heroic couplets. 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. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 22% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AAB-BCCDDEE--FFGGHHIIJJKKJJ stoolA · coolA · chestB · open · restB · swordsC · hordesC · bareD · airD · parchE · marchE · cars · wars · passedF · vastF · knifeG · lifeG · indentureH · adventureH · townsI · downsI · brainJ · againJ · sharpK · harpK · menJ · againJ
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 |
|---|---|---|
| My friend went to the piano; spun the stool | 11 | ·····˘/˘··· |
| A little higher; left his pipe to cool; | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Picked up a fat green volume from the chest; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And propped it open. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Whitely without rest, | 5 | /˘··· |
| His fingers swept the keys that flashed like swords, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| ... And to the brute drums of barbarian hordes, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Roaring and thunderous and weapon-bare, | 10 | /˘·/˘˘·/˘· |
| An army stormed the bastions of the air! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Dreadful with banners, fire to slay and parch, | 10 | /˘·/˘/···· |
| Marching together as the lightnings march, | 10 | /˘˘/˘··/˘· |
| And swift as storm-clouds. Brazen helms and cars | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Clanged to a fierce resurgence of old wars | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Above the screaming horns. In state they passed, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Trampling and splendid on and sought the vast -- | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Rending the darkness like a leaping knife, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| The flame, the noble pageant of our life! | 10 | ···/˘/˘·/· |
| The burning seal that stamps man's high indenture | 11 | ·/˘·····˘/˘ |
| To vain attempt and most forlorn adventure; | 11 | ··˘/··˘/˘/˘ |
| Romance, and purple seas, and toppling towns, | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| And the wind's valiance crying o'er the downs; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That nerves the silly hand, the feeble brain, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| From the loose net of words to deeds again | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And to all courage! Perilous and sharp | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| The last chord shook me as wind shakes a harp! | 10 | ·········· |
| ... And my friend swung round on his stool, and from gods we were men, | 14 | ·············· |
| "How pretty!" we said; and went on with our talk again. | 13 | ·/˘······/·˘/ |
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.