The Portrait
In some quaint Nurnberg maler-atelierUprummaged. When and where was never clearNor yet how he obtained it. When, by whom'Twas painted--who shall say? itself a gloomResisting inquisition. I opineIt is a Dürer. Mark that touch, this line;Are they deniable?--Distinguished graceOf the pure oval of the noble faceTarnished in color badly. Half in lightExtend it so. Incline. The exquisiteExpression leaps abruptly: piercing scorn;Imperial beauty; each, an icy thornOf light, disdainful eyes and ... well! no use!Effaced and but beheld! a sad abuseOf patience.--Often, vaguely visible,The portrait fills each feature, making swellThe heart with hope: avoiding face and hairStart out in living hues; astonished, "There!--The picture lives!" your soul exults, when, lo!You hold a blur; an undetermined glowDislimns a daub.--"Restore?"--Ah, I have triedOur best restorers, and it has defied.
Storied, mysterious, say, perhaps a ghostLives in the canvas; hers, some artist lost;A duchess', haply. Her he worshiped; daredNot tell he worshiped. From his window staredOf Nuremberg one sunny morn when shePassed paged to court. Her cold nobilityLoved, lived for like a purpose. Seized and pliedA feverish brush--her face!--Despaired and died.
The narrow Judengasse: gables frownAround a humpbacked usurer's, where brown,Neglected in a corner, long it lay,Heaped in a pile of riff-raff, such as--say,Retables done in tempera and oldPanels by Wohlgemuth; stiff paintings coldOf martyrs and apostles,--names forgot,--Holbeins and Dürers, say; a haloed lotOf praying saints, madonnas: these, perchance,'Mid wine-stained purples, mothed; an old romance;A crucifix and rosary; inlaidArms, Saracen-elaborate; a strayedNiello of Byzantium; rich work,In bronze, of Florence: here a murderous dirk,There holy patens.So.--My ancestor,The first De Herancour, esteemed by farThis piece most precious, most desirable;
Purchased and brought to Paris. It looked wellIn the dark paneling above the oldHearth of the room. The head's religious gold,The soft severity of the nun face,Made of the room an apostolic placeRevered and feared.--Like some lived scene I seeThat Gothic room: its Flemish tapestry;Embossed within the marble hearth a shield,Carved 'round with thistles; in its argent fieldThree sable mallets--arms of Herancour--Topped with the crest, a helm and hands that bore,Outstretched, two mallets. On a lectern laid,--Between two casements, lozenge-paned, embayed,--A vellum volume of black-lettered text.Near by a taper, winking as if vexedWith silken gusts a nervous curtain sends,Behind which, haply, daggered Murder bends.
And then I seem to see again the hall;The stairway leading to that room.--Then allThe terror of that night of blood and crimePasses before me.--It is Catherine's time:The house De Herancour's. On floors, splashed red,Torchlight of Medicean wrath is shed.Down carven corridors and rooms,--where couchAnd chairs lie shattered and black shadows crouchTorch-pierced with fear,--a sound of swords draws near--The stir of searching steel.What find they here,Torch-bearer, swordsman, and fierce halberdier,On St. Bartholomew's?--A Huguenot!Dead in his chair! Eyes, violently shotWith horror, glaring at the portrait there:Coiling his neck a blood line, like a hairOf finest fire. The portrait, like a fiend,--Looking exalted visitation,--leanedFrom its black panel; in its eyes a hateSatanic; hair--a glowing auburn; lateA dull, enduring golden."Just one threadOf the fierce hair around his throat," they said,"Twisting a burning ray; he--staring dead."
Words in this poem 31
- quaint a.
- Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. [OE. queint, queynte, coint, prudent, wise, cunning, pretty, odd, OF. cointe cultivated, amiable, agreeable, neat, fr. L. cognitus known, p. p. of cognoscere to ]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- opine v. t.
- To have an opinion; to judge; to think; to suppose. South. [L. opinari, p.p. opinatus; akin to opinus (in comp.) thinking, and perh. to E. apt: cf. F. opiner.]
- deniable a.
- Capable of being, or liable to be, denied. [See Deny.]
- storied a.
- Told in a story. [From Story.]
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- artist n.
- One who practices some mechanic art or craft; an artisan. [F. artiste, LL. artista, fr. L. ars. See Art, n., and cf. Artiste.]
- haply adv.
- By hap, chance, luck, or accident; perhaps; it may be.
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- humpbacked a.
- Having a humped back.
- tempera n.
- A mode or process of painting; distemper. [It.]
- haloed a.
- Surrounded with a halo; invested with an ideal glory; glorified.
- crucifix n.
- A representation in art of the figure of Christ upon the cross; esp., the sculptured figure affixed to a real cross of wood, ivory, metal, or the like, used by the Roman Catholics in their devotions. [F. crucifix or LL. crucifixum, fr. L. crux, crucis, cross + figere, fixum, to fix. See Cross, and Fix, and cf. Crucify.]
- rosary n.
- A bed of roses, or place where roses grow. [LL. rosarium a string of beads, L. rosarium a place planted with roses, rosa a rose: cf. F. rosaire. See Rose.]
- niello n.
- A metallic alloy of a deep black color. [It. niello, LL. nigellum a black of blackish enamel, fr. L. nigellus, dim. of niger black. See Negro, and cf. Anneal.]
- dirk n.
- A kind of dagger or poniard; -- formerly much used by the Scottish Highlander. Dirk knife, a clasp knife having a large, dirklike blade. [Ir. duirc.]
- paneling n.
- A forming in panels; panelwork.
- argent n.
- Silver, or money. [F. argent, fr. L. argentum, silver; akin to Gr. rajata white, silver, raj to shine, Ir. arg white, milk, airgiod silver, money, and L. arguere to make clear. Se]
- sable n.
- A carnivorous animal of the Weasel family (Mustela zibellina) native of the northern latitudes of Europe, Asia, and America, -- noted for its fine, soft, and valuable fur. [OF. sable, F. zibeline sable (in sense 4), LL. sabellum; cf. D. sabel, Dan. sabel, zobel, Sw. sabel, sobel, G. zobel; all fr. Russ. sóbole.]
- stairway n.
- A flight of stairs or steps; a staircase.
- torchlight n.
- The light of a torch, or of torches. Also adjectively; as, a torchlight procession.
- medicean a.
- Of or relating to the Medici, a noted Italian family; as, the Medicean Venus. Medicean planets (Astron.), a name given by Galileo to the satellites of Jupiter.
- carven a.
- Wrought by carving; ornamented by carvings; carved.
- swordsman n.
- A soldier; a fighting man.
- halberdier n.
- One who is armed with a halberd. Strype. [F. hallebardier.]
- huguenot n.
- A French Protestant of the period of the religious wars in France in the 16th century. [F., properly a dim. of Hugues. The name is probably derived from the Christian name (Huguenot) of some person conspicuous as a reformer.]
- glaring a.
- Clear; notorious; open and bold; barefaced; as, a glaring crime.
- visitation n.
- The act of visiting, or the state of being visited; access for inspection or examination. [L. visitatio: cf. F. visitation.]
- satanic a.
- Of or pertaining to Satan; having the qualities of Satan; resembling Satan; extremely malicious or wicked; devilish; infernal.
- auburn a.
- Flaxen-colored. Florio. [OE. auburne blonde, OF. alborne, auborne, fr. LL. alburnus whitish, fr. L. albus white. Cf. Alburn.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Portrait 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 Portrait, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/the-portrait.html, id L10959.
Form and metre
The Portrait is 91 lines in 5 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 66% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.2 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 48% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 --AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ atelier · clear · whomA · gloomA · opineB · lineB · graceC · faceC · lightD · exquisiteD · scornE · thornE · useF · abuseF · visibleG · swellG · hairH · thereH · loI · glowI · triedJ · defiedJ
- 2 --AA--BB ghost · lost · daredA · staredA · she · nobility · pliedB · diedB
- 3 AABBCCDDEEFFGG---- frownA · brownA · layB · sayB · oldC · coldC · forgotD · lotD · perchanceE · romanceE · inlaidF · strayedF · workG · dirkG · patens · ancestor · far · desirable
- 4 -AABB---CC--DDEEFF well · oldA · goldA · faceB · placeB · feared · see · tapestry · shieldC · fieldC · herancour · bore · laidD · embayedD · textE · vexedE · sendsF · bendsF
- 5 AAB-BCCDDE-E-FFGGHHII-CCC hallA · allA · crimeB · me · timeB · redC · shedC · couchD · crouchD · nearE · steel · hereE · halberdier · huguenotF · shotF · thereG · hairG · fiendH · leanedH · hateI · lateI · golden · threadC · saidC · deadC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In some quaint Nurnberg maler-atelier | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Uprummaged. When and where was never clear | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Nor yet how he obtained it. When, by whom | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| 'Twas painted--who shall say? itself a gloom | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Resisting inquisition. I opine | 10 | ˘/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| It is a Dürer. Mark that touch, this line; | 10 | ·········· |
| Are they deniable?--Distinguished grace | 10 | ··˘/˘˘˘/˘· |
| Of the pure oval of the noble face | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Tarnished in color badly. Half in light | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Extend it so. Incline. The exquisite | 10 | ˘/··˘/·/˘˘ |
| Expression leaps abruptly: piercing scorn; | 10 | ˘/˘·˘/˘/˘· |
| Imperial beauty; each, an icy thorn | 10 | ˘/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Of light, disdainful eyes and ... well! no use! | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Effaced and but beheld! a sad abuse | 10 | ˘/··˘/··˘/ |
| Of patience.--Often, vaguely visible, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| The portrait fills each feature, making swell | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| The heart with hope: avoiding face and hair | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Start out in living hues; astonished, "There!-- | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| The picture lives!" your soul exults, when, lo! | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| You hold a blur; an undetermined glow | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Dislimns a daub.--"Restore?"--Ah, I have tried | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Our best restorers, and it has defied. | 10 | /·˘/˘···˘/ |
| Storied, mysterious, say, perhaps a ghost | 10 | /˘˘/˘·˘/·· |
| Lives in the canvas; hers, some artist lost; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| A duchess', haply. Her he worshiped; dared | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Not tell he worshiped. From his window stared | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Of Nuremberg one sunny morn when she | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| Passed paged to court. Her cold nobility | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Loved, lived for like a purpose. Seized and plied | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A feverish brush--her face!--Despaired and died. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| The narrow Judengasse: gables frown | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Around a humpbacked usurer's, where brown, | 10 | ···/······ |
| Neglected in a corner, long it lay, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Heaped in a pile of riff-raff, such as--say, | 10 | ·········· |
| Retables done in tempera and old | 9 | ····/˘˘·· |
| Panels by Wohlgemuth; stiff paintings cold | 10 | /˘·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Of martyrs and apostles,--names forgot,-- | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| Holbeins and Dürers, say; a haloed lot | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Of praying saints, madonnas: these, perchance, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| 'Mid wine-stained purples, mothed; an old romance; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| A crucifix and rosary; inlaid | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘/· |
| Arms, Saracen-elaborate; a strayed | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/˘··˘ |
| Niello of Byzantium; rich work, | 10 | ˘/˘·˘/˘˘·· |
| In bronze, of Florence: here a murderous dirk, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| There holy patens. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| So.--My ancestor, | 5 | ··/·˘ |
| The first De Herancour, esteemed by far | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| This piece most precious, most desirable; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Purchased and brought to Paris. It looked well | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| In the dark paneling above the old | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Hearth of the room. The head's religious gold, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| The soft severity of the nun face, | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| Made of the room an apostolic place | 10 | ·········· |
| Revered and feared.-- | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Like some lived scene I see | 6 | ······ |
| That Gothic room: its Flemish tapestry; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| Embossed within the marble hearth a shield, | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Carved 'round with thistles; in its argent field | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Three sable mallets--arms of Herancour-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Topped with the crest, a helm and hands that bore, | 10 | ·········· |
| Outstretched, two mallets. On a lectern laid,-- | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| Between two casements, lozenge-paned, embayed,-- | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| A vellum volume of black-lettered text. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Near by a taper, winking as if vexed | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| With silken gusts a nervous curtain sends, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Behind which, haply, daggered Murder bends. | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| And then I seem to see again the hall; | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| The stairway leading to that room.--Then all | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| The terror of that night of blood and crime | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Passes before me.-- | 5 | /˘··· |
| It is Catherine's time: | 5 | ··/˘· |
| The house De Herancour's. On floors, splashed red, | 10 | ·········· |
| Torchlight of Medicean wrath is shed. | 9 | /˘······· |
| Down carven corridors and rooms,--where couch | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| And chairs lie shattered and black shadows crouch | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| Torch-pierced with fear,--a sound of swords draws near-- | 10 | ·········· |
| The stir of searching steel. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| What find they here, | 4 | ···· |
| Torch-bearer, swordsman, and fierce halberdier, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| On St. Bartholomew's?--A Huguenot! | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Dead in his chair! Eyes, violently shot | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘· |
| With horror, glaring at the portrait there: | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Coiling his neck a blood line, like a hair | 10 | /˘········ |
| Of finest fire. The portrait, like a fiend,-- | 10 | ·/˘/·/˘··· |
| Looking exalted visitation,--leaned | 10 | /˘˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| From its black panel; in its eyes a hate | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Satanic; hair--a glowing auburn; late | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| A dull, enduring golden. | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| "Just one thread | 3 | ··· |
| Of the fierce hair around his throat," they said, | 10 | ·········· |
| "Twisting a burning ray; he--staring dead." | 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.