Oriental Romance
Beyond lost seas of summer sheDwelt on an island of the sea,Last scion of that dynasty,Queen of a race forgotten long.--With eyes of light and lips of song,From seaward groves of blowing lemon,She called me in her native tongue,Low-leaned on some rich robe of Yemen.
I was a king. Three moons we droveAcross green gulfs, the crimson cloveAnd cassia spiced, to claim her love.Packed was my barque with gums and gold;Rich fabrics; sandalwood, grown oldWith odor; gems; and pearls of Oman,--Than her white breasts less white and cold;--And myrrh, less fragrant than this woman.
From Bassora I came. We sawHer eagle castle on a clawOf soaring precipice, o'eraweThe surge and thunder of the spray.Like some great opal, far awayIt shone, with battlement and spire,Wherefrom, with wild aroma, dayBlew splintered lights of sapphirine fire.
Lamenting caverns dark, that keepSonorous echoes of the deep,Led upward to her castle steep....Fair as the moon, whose light is shedIn Ramadan, was she, who ledMy love unto her island bowers,To find her.... lying young and deadAmong her maidens and her flowers.
Words in this poem
- seaward a.
- Directed or situated toward the sea. Donne.
- drove n.
- A collection of cattle driven, or cattle collected for driving; a number of animals, as oxen, sheep, or swine, driven in a body. [AS. draf, fr. drifan to drive. See Drive.]
- cassia n.
- A genus of leguminous plants (herbs, shrubs, or trees) of many species, most of which have purgative qualities. The leaves of several species furnish the senna used in medicine. [L. cassia and casia, Gr. qetsi\'beh, fr. qatsa' to cut off, to peel off.]
- barque n.
- Formerly, any small sailing vessel, as a pinnace, fishing smack, etc.; also, a rowing boat; a barge. Now applied poetically to a sailing vessel or boat of any kind. [F. barque, fr. Sp. or It. barca, fr. LL. barca for barica. See Barge.]
- precipice n.
- A sudden or headlong fall. Fuller. [F. précipice, L. praecipitium, fr. praeceps, - cipitis, headlong; prae before + caput, capitis, the head. See Pre-, and Chief.]
- sapphirine n.
- Resembling sapphire; made of sapphire; having the color, or any quality of sapphire.
- ramadan n.
- The ninth Mohammedan month. [Ar. ramadan, or ramazan, properly, the hot month.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Oriental Romance is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #7796; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Madison Julius Cawein, Oriental Romance, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/oriental-romance.html, id L10956.
Form and metre
Oriental Romance is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AAABBCBC, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 41% 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 AA-BBC-C sheA · seaA · dynasty · longB · songB · lemonC · tongue · yemenC
- 2 -AABBCBC drove · cloveA · loveA · goldB · oldB · omanC · coldB · womanC
- 3 AAABBCBC sawA · clawA · o'eraweA · sprayB · awayB · spireC · dayB · fireC
- 4 AAABBCBC keepA · deepA · steepA · shedB · ledB · bowersC · deadB · flowersC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Beyond lost seas of summer she | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Dwelt on an island of the sea, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Last scion of that dynasty, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Queen of a race forgotten long.-- | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| With eyes of light and lips of song, | 8 | ········ |
| From seaward groves of blowing lemon, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| She called me in her native tongue, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Low-leaned on some rich robe of Yemen. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| I was a king. Three moons we drove | 8 | ········ |
| Across green gulfs, the crimson clove | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| And cassia spiced, to claim her love. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Packed was my barque with gums and gold; | 8 | ········ |
| Rich fabrics; sandalwood, grown old | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| With odor; gems; and pearls of Oman,-- | 9 | ·/˘····˘/ |
| Than her white breasts less white and cold;-- | 8 | ········ |
| And myrrh, less fragrant than this woman. | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| From Bassora I came. We saw | 8 | ········ |
| Her eagle castle on a claw | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Of soaring precipice, o'erawe | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| The surge and thunder of the spray. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Like some great opal, far away | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| It shone, with battlement and spire, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Wherefrom, with wild aroma, day | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| Blew splintered lights of sapphirine fire. | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘/ |
| Lamenting caverns dark, that keep | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| Sonorous echoes of the deep, | 8 | /˘˘/˘··· |
| Led upward to her castle steep.... | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Fair as the moon, whose light is shed | 8 | ········ |
| In Ramadan, was she, who led | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| My love unto her island bowers, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| To find her.... lying young and dead | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Among her maidens and her flowers. | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
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.