The Greek Boy
Gone are the glorious Greeks of old,Glorious in mien and mind;Their bones are mingled with the mould,Their dust is on the wind;The forms they hewed from living stoneSurvive the waste of years, alone,And, scattered with their ashes, showWhat greatness perished long ago.
Yet fresh the myrtles there--the springsGush brightly as of yore;Flowers blossom from the dust of kings,As many an age before.There nature moulds as nobly now,As e'er of old, the human brow;And copies still the martial formThat braved Plataea's battle storm.
Boy! thy first looks were taught to seekTheir heaven in Hellas' skies:Her airs have tinged thy dusky cheek,Her sunshine lit thine eyes;Thine ears have drunk the woodland strainsHeard by old poets, and thy veinsSwell with the blood of demigods,That slumber in thy country's sods.
Now is thy nation free--though late--Thy elder brethren broke--Broke, ere thy spirit felt its weight,The intolerable yoke.And Greece, decayed, dethroned, doth seeHer youth renewed in such as thee:A shoot of that old vine that madeThe nations silent in its shade.
Words in this poem
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- nobly adv.
- Of noble extraction; as, nobly born or descended.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Greek Boy is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by William Cullen Bryant, Project Gutenberg ebook #16341; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Cullen Bryant, The Greek Boy, in Poems (1821–1876), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16341, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bryant-poems/the-greek-boy.html, id L07311.
Form and metre
The Greek Boy is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCCDD. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.9 syllables. 28% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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 ABABCCDD oldA · mindB · mouldA · windB · stoneC · aloneC · showD · agoD
- 2 ABABCCDD springsA · yoreB · kingsA · beforeB · nowC · browC · formD · stormD
- 3 ABABCCDD seekA · skiesB · cheekA · eyesB · strainsC · veinsC · demigodsD · sodsD
- 4 ABABCCDD lateA · brokeB · weightA · yokeB · seeC · theeC · madeD · shadeD
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Gone are the glorious Greeks of old, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Glorious in mien and mind; | 7 | /˘˘···· |
| Their bones are mingled with the mould, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Their dust is on the wind; | 6 | ······ |
| The forms they hewed from living stone | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Survive the waste of years, alone, | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| And, scattered with their ashes, show | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| What greatness perished long ago. | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Yet fresh the myrtles there--the springs | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Gush brightly as of yore; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Flowers blossom from the dust of kings, | 8 | //˘····· |
| As many an age before. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| There nature moulds as nobly now, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| As e'er of old, the human brow; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And copies still the martial form | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That braved Plataea's battle storm. | 8 | ··˘··/˘· |
| Boy! thy first looks were taught to seek | 8 | ········ |
| Their heaven in Hellas' skies: | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Her airs have tinged thy dusky cheek, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Her sunshine lit thine eyes; | 6 | ·/···· |
| Thine ears have drunk the woodland strains | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Heard by old poets, and thy veins | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Swell with the blood of demigods, | 8 | ········ |
| That slumber in thy country's sods. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Now is thy nation free--though late-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thy elder brethren broke-- | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Broke, ere thy spirit felt its weight, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The intolerable yoke. | 7 | ·˘/˘˘˘· |
| And Greece, decayed, dethroned, doth see | 8 | ··˘/˘/·· |
| Her youth renewed in such as thee: | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| A shoot of that old vine that made | 8 | ········ |
| The nations silent in its shade. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
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.