Third Stasimon
CHORUS.Oh, a House that loves the stranger,And a House for ever free!And Apollo, the Song-changer,Was a herdsman in thy fee;Yea, a-piping he was found,Where the upward valleys wound,To the kine from out the mangerAnd the sheep from off the lea,And love was upon Othrys at the sound.
And from deep glens unbeholdenOf the forest to his songThere came lynxes streaky-golden,There came lions in a throng,Tawny-coated, ruddy-eyed,To that piper in his pride;And shy fawns he would embolden,Dappled dancers, out alongThe shadow by the pine-tree's side.
And those magic pipes a-blowingHave fulfilled thee in thy reignBy thy Lake with honey flowing,By thy sheepfolds and thy grain;Where the Sun turns his steedsTo the twilight, all the meadsOf Molossus know thy sowingAnd thy ploughs upon the plain.Yea, and eastward thou art freeTo the portals of the sea,And Pelion, the unharboured, is but minister to thee.
He hath opened wide his dwellingTo the stranger, though his ruthFor the dead was fresh and welling,For the loved one of his youth.'Tis the brave heart's cry:"I will fail not, though I die!"Doth it win, with no man's telling,Some high vision of the truth?We may marvel. Yet I trust,When man seeketh to be justAnd to pity them that wander, God will raise him from the dust.
Words in this poem
- piping a.
- Playing on a musical pipe. [From Pipe, v.]
- manger n.
- A trough or open box in which fodder is placed for horses or cattle to eat. [F. mangeoire, fr. manger to eat, fr. L. manducare, fr. mandere to chew. Cf. Mandible, Manducate.]
- dappled a.
- Marked with spots of different shades of color; spotted; variegated; as, a dapple horse.
- molossus n.
- A foot of three long syllables.
- unharboured a.
- Having no harbor or shelter; unprotected. [Pref. un- not + harbored.]
- ruth n.
- Sorrow for the misery of another; pity; tenderness. [From Rue, v.: cf. Icel. hryggedh, hrygedh.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Third Stasimon is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Alcestis of Euripides, translated into English rhyming verse by Gilbert Murray, Project Gutenberg ebook #10523, the Gilbert Murray translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Euripides, Third Stasimon, in Alcestis (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10523, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/euripides-alcestis/third-stasimon.html, id L28805.
Form and metre
Third Stasimon is 41 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABABCCABDDD, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See 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 -ABABCCABC chorus · strangerA · freeB · changerA · feeB · foundC · woundC · mangerA · leaB · soundC
- 2 ABABCCABC unbeholdenA · songB · goldenA · throngB · eyedC · prideC · emboldenA · alongB · sideC
- 3 ABABCCABDDD blowingA · reignB · flowingA · grainB · steedsC · meadsC · sowingA · plainB · freeD · seaD · theeD
- 4 ABABCCABDDD dwellingA · ruthB · wellingA · youthB · cryC · dieC · tellingA · truthB · trustD · justD · dustD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| CHORUS. | 2 | /˘ |
| Oh, a House that loves the stranger, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And a House for ever free! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And Apollo, the Song-changer, | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| Was a herdsman in thy fee; | 7 | ······· |
| Yea, a-piping he was found, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Where the upward valleys wound, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| To the kine from out the manger | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And the sheep from off the lea, | 7 | ······· |
| And love was upon Othrys at the sound. | 10 | ·········· |
| And from deep glens unbeholden | 8 | ········ |
| Of the forest to his song | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| There came lynxes streaky-golden, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| There came lions in a throng, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Tawny-coated, ruddy-eyed, | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| To that piper in his pride; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And shy fawns he would embolden, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Dappled dancers, out along | 7 | ·˘/˘·˘/ |
| The shadow by the pine-tree's side. | 8 | ·/······ |
| And those magic pipes a-blowing | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Have fulfilled thee in thy reign | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| By thy Lake with honey flowing, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| By thy sheepfolds and thy grain; | 7 | ······· |
| Where the Sun turns his steeds | 6 | ······ |
| To the twilight, all the meads | 7 | ··/···· |
| Of Molossus know thy sowing | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| And thy ploughs upon the plain. | 7 | ······· |
| Yea, and eastward thou art free | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| To the portals of the sea, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And Pelion, the unharboured, is but minister to thee. | 13 | ·········/˘·· |
| He hath opened wide his dwelling | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| To the stranger, though his ruth | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| For the dead was fresh and welling, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| For the loved one of his youth. | 7 | ······· |
| 'Tis the brave heart's cry: | 5 | ····· |
| "I will fail not, though I die!" | 7 | ······· |
| Doth it win, with no man's telling, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Some high vision of the truth? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| We may marvel. Yet I trust, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| When man seeketh to be just | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And to pity them that wander, God will raise him from the dust. | 15 | ··/˘··/˘······· |
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.