Maia
Illusion works impenetrable,Weaving webs innumerable,Her gay pictures never fail,Crowds each on other, veil on veil,Charmer who will be believedBy man who thirsts to be deceived.
Illusions like the tints of pearl,Or changing colors of the sky,Or ribbons of a dancing girlThat mend her beauty to the eye.
The cold gray down upon the quinces liethAnd the poor spinners weave their webs thereonTo share the sunshine that so spicy is.
Samson stark, at Dagon's knee,Gropes for columns strong as he;When his ringlets grew and curled,Groped for axle of the world.
But Nature whistled with all her winds,Did as she pleased and went her way.
Words in this poem
- charmer n.
- One who charms, or has power to charm; one who uses the power of enchantment; a magician. Deut. xviii. 11.
- thereon adv.
- On that or this. [AS. . See There, and On.]
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- stark adv.
- Wholly; entirely; absolutely; quite; as, stark mind.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Maia is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Household Edition, Project Gutenberg ebook #12843; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Maia, in Poems (1847), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12843, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/emerson-poems/maia.html, id L07551.
Form and metre
Maia is 19 lines in 5 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 53% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.3 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% 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 AAAABB impenetrableA · innumerableA · failA · veilA · believedB · deceivedB
- 2 ABAB pearlA · skyB · girlA · eyeB
- 4 AABB kneeA · heA · curledB · worldB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Illusion works impenetrable, | 9 | ˘/˘·˘/˘˘˘ |
| Weaving webs innumerable, | 8 | /˘·˘/˘˘˘ |
| Her gay pictures never fail, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Crowds each on other, veil on veil, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Charmer who will be believed | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| By man who thirsts to be deceived. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Illusions like the tints of pearl, | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Or changing colors of the sky, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Or ribbons of a dancing girl | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That mend her beauty to the eye. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The cold gray down upon the quinces lieth | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And the poor spinners weave their webs thereon | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| To share the sunshine that so spicy is. | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Samson stark, at Dagon's knee, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Gropes for columns strong as he; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| When his ringlets grew and curled, | 8 | ·······˘ |
| Groped for axle of the world. | 8 | ·˘·/˘··· |
| But Nature whistled with all her winds, | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Did as she pleased and went her way. | 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.