The Portrait of the Princess
Tiny, stately maid of Spain,With your formal fan and train!Strange the spell the painter cast,Strong to make you live and last!Some one, Sweet, who bore your name,Changed and grew, as people do;Had adventures gay or tragic;Died, one day--yet here are you,By the wand-like brush’s magicHeld among us, just the same!On your brow the same soft curls,On your wrist the changeless pearls,In the gems the moveless gleams,In your eyes the selfsame dreams;What a fairy-tale it seems!
Oh, that he who saw you thus,--Seized and sent you down to us,On his canvas limned with skillTender curves of throat and cheek,--Might have added one thing still,Made the grave lips ope and speak!For I fain had heard it toldWhat the world was like around you,That old world of cloth-of-goldWhere the cunning painter found you.Tell me how your time was spent:Had you any playmates then,Or were all who came and wentCeremonious dames and men?Had you some tall hound to pet--Some caged bird, with eyes of jet?As you moved, a soul apart,Through that world of plume and glove,Could your precious little heartFix on anything to love?--Sober, silent you remain,Tiny, stately maid of Spain!
Words in this poem
- changeless a.
- That can not be changed; constant; as, a changeless purpose.
- moveless a.
- Motionless; fixed.
- selfsame a.
- Precisely the same; the very same; identical. [Self, a. + same.]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- caged a.
- Confined in, or as in, a cage; like a cage or prison.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Portrait of the Princess is in the public domain. This text is taken from A chant of love for England, and other poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #71425; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Helen Gray Cone, The Portrait of the Princess, in A Chant of Love for England, and Other Poems (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #71425, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cone-chant-for-england/the-portrait-of-the-princess.html, id L22067.
Form and metre
The Portrait of the Princess is 37 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 AABBCDEDECFFGGG spainA · trainA · castB · lastB · nameC · doD · tragicE · youD · magicE · sameC · curlsF · pearlsF · gleamsG · dreamsG · seemsG
- 2 AABCBCDEDEFGFGHHIJIJKK thusA · usA · skillB · cheekC · stillB · speakC · toldD · youE · goldD · youE · spentF · thenG · wentF · menG · petH · jetH · apartI · gloveJ · heartI · loveJ · remainK · spainK
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Tiny, stately maid of Spain, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| With your formal fan and train! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Strange the spell the painter cast, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Strong to make you live and last! | 7 | ······· |
| Some one, Sweet, who bore your name, | 7 | ······· |
| Changed and grew, as people do; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Had adventures gay or tragic; | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| Died, one day--yet here are you, | 7 | ······· |
| By the wand-like brush’s magic | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Held among us, just the same! | 7 | ······· |
| On your brow the same soft curls, | 7 | ······· |
| On your wrist the changeless pearls, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| In the gems the moveless gleams, | 8 | ········ |
| In your eyes the selfsame dreams; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| What a fairy-tale it seems! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Oh, that he who saw you thus,-- | 7 | ······· |
| Seized and sent you down to us, | 7 | ······· |
| On his canvas limned with skill | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Tender curves of throat and cheek,-- | 7 | /˘····· |
| Might have added one thing still, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Made the grave lips ope and speak! | 7 | ······· |
| For I fain had heard it told | 7 | ······· |
| What the world was like around you, | 8 | ········ |
| That old world of cloth-of-gold | 7 | ······· |
| Where the cunning painter found you. | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| Tell me how your time was spent: | 7 | ······· |
| Had you any playmates then, | 7 | ··/˘/·· |
| Or were all who came and went | 7 | ······· |
| Ceremonious dames and men? | 7 | ······· |
| Had you some tall hound to pet-- | 7 | ······· |
| Some caged bird, with eyes of jet? | 7 | ······· |
| As you moved, a soul apart, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Through that world of plume and glove, | 7 | ······· |
| Could your precious little heart | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Fix on anything to love? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| --Sober, silent you remain, | 7 | /˘/˘·˘/ |
| Tiny, stately maid of Spain! | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
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.