The Picture
Above her, pearl and rose the heavens lay:Around her, flowers flattered earth with gold,Or down the path in insolence held sway--Like cavaliers who ride the king's highway--Scarlet and buff, within a garden old.
Beyond the hills, faint-heard through belts of wood,Bells, Sabbath-sweet, swooned from some far-off town:Gamboge and gold, broad sunset colors strewedThe purple west as if, with God imbued,Her mighty palette Nature there laid down.
Amid such flowers, underneath such skies,Embodying all life knows of sweet and fair,She stood; love's dreams in girlhood's face and eyes,Fair as a star that comes to emphasizeThe mingled beauty of the earth and air.
Behind her, seen through vines and orchard trees,Gray with its twinkling windows--like the faceOf calm old age that sits and dreams at ease--Porched with old roses, haunts of honeybees,The homestead loomed within a lilied space.
For whom she waited in the afterglow,Star-eyed and golden 'mid the poppy and rose,I do not know; I do not care to know,--It is enough I keep her picture so,Hung up, like poetry, in my life's dull prose.
A fragrant picture, where I still may findHer face untouched of sorrow or regret,Unspoiled of contact; ever young and kind;The spiritual sweetheart of my soul and mind,She had not been, perhaps, if we had met.
Words in this poem
- insolence n.
- The quality of being unusual or novel. [F. insolence, L. insolentia. See Insolent.]
- gamboge n.
- A concrete juice, or gum resin, produced by several species of trees in Siam, Ceylon, and Malabar. It is brought in masses, or cylindrical rolls, from Cambodia, or Cambogia, -- whence its name.
- palette n.
- A thin, oval or square board, or tablet, with a thumb hole at one end for holding it, on which a painter lays and mixes his pigments. [See Pallet a thin board.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- emphasize v. t.
- To utter or pronounce with a particular stress of voice; to make emphatic; as, to emphasize a word or a phrase.
- twinkling n.
- The act of one who, or of that which, twinkles; a quick movement of the eye; a wink; a twinkle. Holland.
- lilied a.
- Covered with, or having many, lilies.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Picture 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, The Picture, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/the-picture.html, id L10906.
Form and metre
The Picture is 30 lines in 6 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAAB, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 13% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 ABAAB layA · goldB · swayA · highwayA · oldB
- 2 -ABBA wood · townA · strewedB · imbuedB · downA
- 3 ABAAB skiesA · fairB · eyesA · emphasizeA · airB
- 4 ABAAB treesA · faceB · easeA · honeybeesA · spaceB
- 5 ABAAB afterglowA · roseB · knowA · soA · proseB
- 6 ABAAB findA · regretB · kindA · mindA · metB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Above her, pearl and rose the heavens lay: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Around her, flowers flattered earth with gold, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Or down the path in insolence held sway-- | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Like cavaliers who ride the king's highway-- | 10 | ··˘/····/· |
| Scarlet and buff, within a garden old. | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Beyond the hills, faint-heard through belts of wood, | 10 | ·········· |
| Bells, Sabbath-sweet, swooned from some far-off town: | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Gamboge and gold, broad sunset colors strewed | 10 | ˘/···/·/˘· |
| The purple west as if, with God imbued, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Her mighty palette Nature there laid down. | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Amid such flowers, underneath such skies, | 10 | ˘/·/˘·˘/·· |
| Embodying all life knows of sweet and fair, | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| She stood; love's dreams in girlhood's face and eyes, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Fair as a star that comes to emphasize | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The mingled beauty of the earth and air. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Behind her, seen through vines and orchard trees, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Gray with its twinkling windows--like the face | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Of calm old age that sits and dreams at ease-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Porched with old roses, haunts of honeybees, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The homestead loomed within a lilied space. | 10 | ·/·····/˘· |
| For whom she waited in the afterglow, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Star-eyed and golden 'mid the poppy and rose, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·· |
| I do not know; I do not care to know,-- | 10 | ·········· |
| It is enough I keep her picture so, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Hung up, like poetry, in my life's dull prose. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| A fragrant picture, where I still may find | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Her face untouched of sorrow or regret, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| Unspoiled of contact; ever young and kind; | 10 | ˘/·/·/˘··· |
| The spiritual sweetheart of my soul and mind, | 10 | ·/˘/······ |
| She had not been, perhaps, if we had met. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
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.