Verlaine
Avid of life and love, insatiate vagabond,With quest too furious for the graal he would have won,He flung himself at the eternal sky, as oneWrenching his chains but impotent to burst the bond.
Yet under the revolt, the revel, the despond,What pools of innocence, what crystal benison!As through a riven mist that glowers in the sun,A stretch of God's blue calm glassed in a virgin pond.
Prowler of obscene streets that riot reek along,And aisles with incense numb and gardens mad with rose,Monastic cells and dreams of dim brocaded lawns,
Death, which has set the calm of Time upon his song,Surely upon his soul has kissed the same reposeIn some fair heaven the Christ has set apart for Fauns.
Words in this poem
- avid a.
- Longing eagerly for; eager; greedy. [L. avidus, fr. av to long: cf. F. avide. See Avarice.]
- insatiate a.
- Insatiable; as, insatiate thirst. [L. insatiatus.]
- despond v. i.
- To give up, the will, courage, or spirit; to be thoroughly disheartened; to lose all courage; to become dispirited or depressed; to take an unhopeful view. [L. despond, desponsum, to promise away, promise in marriage, give up, to lose (courage); de- + spond to promise solemnly. See Sponsor.]
- benison n.
- Blessing; beatitude; benediction. [OE. beneysun, benesoun, OF. beneï, beneïson, fr. L. benedictio, fr. benedicere to bless; bene (adv. of bonus good) + dicere to say. See Bounty, and Diction, and]
- prowler n.
- One that prowls. Thomson.
- reek n.
- A rick. B. Jonson.
- brocaded a.
- Woven or worked, as brocade, with gold and silver, or with raised flowers, etc.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Verlaine is in the public domain. This text is taken from More Songs From Vagabondia, Project Gutenberg ebook #18007; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Bliss Carman, Verlaine, in More Songs from Vagabondia (1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18007, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/carman-vagabondia/verlaine.html, id L24722.
Form and metre
Verlaine is 14 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is CDE, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is alexandrines, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See other poems in alexandrines.
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 vagabond · wonA · oneA · bondB
- 2 B-AB despondB · benison · sunA · pondB
- 3 CDE alongC · roseD · lawnsE
- 4 CDE songC · reposeD · faunsE
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 alexandrines. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Avid of life and love, insatiate vagabond, | 13 | /˘····˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
| With quest too furious for the graal he would have won, | 12 | ···/˘······· |
| He flung himself at the eternal sky, as one | 12 | ··˘/··˘/˘··· |
| Wrenching his chains but impotent to burst the bond. | 12 | /˘···/˘˘···· |
| Yet under the revolt, the revel, the despond, | 12 | ····˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| What pools of innocence, what crystal benison! | 12 | ···/˘˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| As through a riven mist that glowers in the sun, | 12 | ···/˘··/˘··· |
| A stretch of God's blue calm glassed in a virgin pond. | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| Prowler of obscene streets that riot reek along, | 12 | /˘·˘/··/˘·˘/ |
| And aisles with incense numb and gardens mad with rose, | 12 | ···/···/˘··· |
| Monastic cells and dreams of dim brocaded lawns, | 12 | ˘/˘·····˘/˘· |
| Death, which has set the calm of Time upon his song, | 12 | ············ |
| Surely upon his soul has kissed the same repose | 12 | /˘········˘/ |
| In some fair heaven the Christ has set apart for Fauns. | 12 | ···/····˘/·· |
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.