Prometheus
Prometheus stole from Heaven the sacred fireAnd swept to earth with it o'er land and sea.He lit the vestal flames of poesy,Content, for this, to brave celestial ire.
Wroth were the gods, and with eternal hatePursued the fearless one who ravished HeavenThat earth might hold in fee the perfect leavenTo lift men's souls above their low estate.
But judge you now, when poets wield the pen,Think you not well the wrong has been repaired?'Twas all in vain that ill Prometheus fared:The fire has been returned to Heaven again!
We have no singers like the ones whose noteGave challenge to the noblest warbler's song.We have no voice so mellow, sweet, and strongAs that which broke from Shelley's golden throat.
The measure of our songs is our desires:We tinkle where old poets used to storm.We lack their substance tho' we keep their form:We strum our banjo-strings and call them lyres.
Words in this poem
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- vestal a.
- Of or pertaining to Vesta, the virgin goddess of the hearth; hence, pure; chaste. [L. Vestalis belonging to Vesta, vestal. See Vesta.]
- poesy n.
- The art of composing poems; poetical skill or faculty; as, the heavenly gift of poesy. [F. poésie (cf. It. poesia), L. poesis, from Gr. Posy.]
- wroth a.
- Full of wrath; angry; incensed; much exasperated; wrathful. [OE. wroth, wrap, AS. wraedh wroth, crooked, bad; akin to wriedhan to writhe, and to OS. wreedhangry, D. wreed cruel, OHG. reid twisted, Icel. reiedhr angry, Dan]
- wield v. t.
- To govern; to rule; to keep, or have in charge; also, to possess. [OE. welden to govern, to have power over, to possess, AS. geweldan, gewyldan, from wealdan; akin to OS. waldan, OFries. walda, G. walten, OHG. waltan, Icel. val]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- strum v. t.
- To play on an instrument of music, or as on an instrument, in an unskillful or noisy way; to thrum; as, to strum a piano. [Probably of imitative origin. Cf. Thrum.]
- banjo n.
- A stringed musical instrument having a head and neck like the guitar, and its body like a tambourine. It has five strings, and is played with the fingers and hands.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Prometheus is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Project Gutenberg ebook #18338; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Paul Laurence Dunbar, Prometheus, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/prometheus.html, id L00647.
Form and metre
Prometheus is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% 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 A--A fireA · sea · poesy · ireA
- 2 ABBA hateA · heavenB · leavenB · estateA
- 3 ABBA penA · repairedB · faredB · againA
- 4 ABBA noteA · songB · strongB · throatA
- 5 -AA- desires · stormA · formA · lyres
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Prometheus stole from Heaven the sacred fire | 11 | ˘/˘˘··/·/˘/ |
| And swept to earth with it o'er land and sea. | 10 | ·········· |
| He lit the vestal flames of poesy, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Content, for this, to brave celestial ire. | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘· |
| Wroth were the gods, and with eternal hate | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Pursued the fearless one who ravished Heaven | 10 | ˘/·/˘····/ |
| That earth might hold in fee the perfect leaven | 11 | ·······/·/˘ |
| To lift men's souls above their low estate. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| But judge you now, when poets wield the pen, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Think you not well the wrong has been repaired? | 10 | ········˘/ |
| 'Twas all in vain that ill Prometheus fared: | 11 | ······˘/˘˘· |
| The fire has been returned to Heaven again! | 10 | ·/··˘/·/˘/ |
| We have no singers like the ones whose note | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Gave challenge to the noblest warbler's song. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| We have no voice so mellow, sweet, and strong | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| As that which broke from Shelley's golden throat. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| The measure of our songs is our desires: | 10 | ·/˘·/··/˘/ |
| We tinkle where old poets used to storm. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| We lack their substance tho' we keep their form: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| We strum our banjo-strings and call them lyres. | 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.