Carmen XXXIV: Hymn to Diana
Diana's faith inbred we bearYouths whole of heart and maidens fair,Let boys no blemishes impair,And girls of Dian sing!
O great Latonian progeny,Of greatest Jove descendancy,Whom mother bare 'neath olive-tree,Deep in the Delian dell;
That of the mountains reign thou QueenAnd forest ranges ever green,And coppices by man unseen,And rivers resonant.
Thou art Lucina, Juno hightBy mothers lien in painful plight,Thou puissant Trivia and the LightBastard, yclept the Lune.
Thou goddess with thy monthly stage,The yearly march doth mete and guageAnd rustic peasant's messuage,Dost brim with best o' crops,
Be hailed by whatso name of grace,Please thee and olden Romulus' race,Thy wonted favour deign embrace,And save with choicest aid.
Words in this poem 15
- inbred a.
- Bred within; innate; as, inbred worth.
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- dell n.
- A small, retired valley; a ravine. [AS. del, akin to E. dale; cf. D. delle, del, low ground. See Dale.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- hight v. t.
- To be called or named. [OE. heiten, highten, haten, hoten; also hight, hatte, hette, is called, was called, AS. hatan to call, name, be called, to command, promise; also hatte is calle]
- plight v. t.
- To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait. [OE. pliten; probably through Old French, fr. LL. plectare, L. plectere. See Plait, Ply.]
- puissant a.
- Powerful; strong; mighty; forcible; as, a puissant prince or empire. [F., originally, a p. pr. formed fr. L. posse to be able: cf. L. potens powerful. See Potent.]
- lune n.
- Anything in the shape of a half moon. [L. luna moon: cf. F. lune. See Luna.]
- mete v. i.
- To dream; also impersonally; as, me mette, I dreamed. [AS. m.]
- messuage n.
- A dwelling house, with the adjacent buildings and curtilage, and the adjoining lands appropriated to the use of the household. [Cf. OF. mesuage, masnage, LL. messuagium, mansionaticum, fr. L. mansio, -onis, a staying, remaining, dwelling, fr. manere, mansum, to stay, remain, E. mansion, ]
- whatso pron.
- Whatsoever; whosoever; whatever; anything that.
- olden a.
- Old; ancient; as, the olden time.
- wonted a.
- Accustomed; customary; usual.
- favour n.
- Kind regard; propitious aspect; countenance; friendly disposition; kindness; good will. [Written also favour.]
- deign v. t.
- To esteem worthy; to consider worth notice; -- opposed to disdain. [OE. deinen, deignen, OF. degner, deigner, daigner, F. daigner, fr. L. dignari to deem worthy, deign, fr. dignus worthy; akin to decere to be fitting. See Decent]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Carmen XXXIV: Hymn to Diana is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Carmina, Project Gutenberg ebook #20732, the Richard Burton translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Catullus, Carmen XXXIV: Hymn to Diana, in The Carmina (1894), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #20732, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/catullus-carmina/carmen-xxxiv-hymn-to-diana.html, id L13817.
Form and metre
Carmen XXXIV: Hymn to Diana is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% 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 AAA- bearA · fairA · impairA · sing
- 3 AAA- queenA · greenA · unseenA · resonant
- 4 AAA- hightA · plightA · lightA · lune
- 5 AAA- stageA · guageA · messuageA · crops
- 6 AAA- graceA · raceA · embraceA · aid
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Diana's faith inbred we bear | 9 | ˘/˘·/·˘·· |
| Youths whole of heart and maidens fair, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Let boys no blemishes impair, | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| And girls of Dian sing! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| O great Latonian progeny, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Of greatest Jove descendancy, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Whom mother bare 'neath olive-tree, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Deep in the Delian dell; | 6 | ······ |
| That of the mountains reign thou Queen | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And forest ranges ever green, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And coppices by man unseen, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And rivers resonant. | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| Thou art Lucina, Juno hight | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| By mothers lien in painful plight, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Thou puissant Trivia and the Light | 10 | ·/˘˘/˘˘··· |
| Bastard, yclept the Lune. | 6 | /˘···· |
| Thou goddess with thy monthly stage, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The yearly march doth mete and guage | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And rustic peasant's messuage, | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Dost brim with best o' crops, | 6 | ······ |
| Be hailed by whatso name of grace, | 9 | ··˘·/˘··· |
| Please thee and olden Romulus' race, | 9 | ···/˘/˘˘· |
| Thy wonted favour deign embrace, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And save with choicest aid. | 6 | ···/˘· |
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.