The Slave
He waited till within her towerHer taper signalled him the hour.
He was a prince both fair and brave.--What hope that he would love her slave!
He of the Persian dynasty;And she a Queen of Araby!--
No Peri singing to a starUpon the sea were lovelier....
I helped her drop the silken rope.He clomb, aflame with love and hope.
I drew the dagger from my gownAnd cut the ladder, leaning down.
Oh, wild his face, and wild the fall:Her cry was wilder than them all.
I heard her cry; I heard him moan;And stood as merciless as stone.
The eunuchs came: fierce scimitarsStirred in the torch-lit corridors.
She spoke like one who speaks in sleep,And bade me strike or she would leap.
I bade her leap: the time was short:And kept the dagger for my heart.
She leapt.... I put their blades aside,And smiling in their faces--died.
Words in this poem
- araby n.
- The country of Arabia.
- peri n.
- An imaginary being, male or female, like an elf or fairy, represented as a descendant of fallen angels, excluded from paradise till penance is accomplished. Moore. [Per. peri a female genus, a fairy.]
- aflame adv.
- Inflames; glowing with light or passion; ablaze. G. Eliot. [Pref. a- + flame.]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Slave 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 Slave, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/the-slave.html, id L10958.
Form and metre
The Slave is 24 lines in 12 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 towerA · hourA
- 2 AA braveA · slaveA
- 5 AA ropeA · hopeA
- 6 AA gownA · downA
- 7 AA fallA · allA
- 8 AA moanA · stoneA
- 10 AA sleepA · leapA
- 12 AA asideA · diedA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| He waited till within her tower | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Her taper signalled him the hour. | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| He was a prince both fair and brave.-- | 8 | ········ |
| What hope that he would love her slave! | 8 | ········ |
| He of the Persian dynasty; | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| And she a Queen of Araby!-- | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| No Peri singing to a star | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Upon the sea were lovelier.... | 8 | ········ |
| I helped her drop the silken rope. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| He clomb, aflame with love and hope. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| I drew the dagger from my gown | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And cut the ladder, leaning down. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Oh, wild his face, and wild the fall: | 8 | ········ |
| Her cry was wilder than them all. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I heard her cry; I heard him moan; | 8 | ········ |
| And stood as merciless as stone. | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| The eunuchs came: fierce scimitars | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Stirred in the torch-lit corridors. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| She spoke like one who speaks in sleep, | 8 | ········ |
| And bade me strike or she would leap. | 8 | ········ |
| I bade her leap: the time was short: | 8 | ········ |
| And kept the dagger for my heart. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| She leapt.... I put their blades aside, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And smiling in their faces--died. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
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.