Third Stasimon
CHORUS.Now, now thou shalt dance in our dances,Beloved, as a fawn in the night!The wind is astir for the glancesOf thy feet; thou art robed with delight.
He hath conquered, he cometh to free usWith garlands new-won,More high than the crowns of Alpheüs,Thine own father's son:Cry, cry, for the day that is won!
ELECTRA.O Light of the Sun, O chariot wheels of flame,O Earth and Night, dead Night without a nameThat held me! Now mine eyes are raised to see,And all the doorways of my soul flung free.Aegisthus dead! My father's murderer dead!What have I still of wreathing for the headStored in my chambers? Let it come forth nowTo bind my brother's and my conqueror's brow.
(Some garlands are brought out from the house to ELECTRA.)
CHORUS.Go, gather thy garlands, and lay themAs a crown on his brow, many-tressed,But our feet shall refrain not nor stay them:'Tis the joy that the Muses have blest.For our king is returned as from prison,The old king, to be master again,Our belovèd in justice re-risen:With guile he hath slain...But cry, cry in joyance again!
Words in this poem
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- astir adv.
- Stirring; in a state of activity or motion; out of bed. [Pref. a- + stir.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- joyance n.
- Enjoyment; gayety; festivity; joyfulness. [OF. joiance.]
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 Electra of Euripides, translated into English rhyming verse by Gilbert Murray, Project Gutenberg ebook #14322, 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 Electra (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/euripides-electra/third-stasimon.html, id L28817.
Form and metre
Third Stasimon is 30 lines in 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%).
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 -ABAB chorus · dancesA · nightB · glancesA · delightB
- 2 -A-AA us · wonA · alpheüs · sonA · wonA
- 3 -AABBCCDD electra · flameA · nameA · seeB · freeB · deadC · headC · nowD · browD
- 5 -A-A-BCBCC chorus · themA · tressed · themA · blest · prisonB · againC · risenB · slainC · againC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| CHORUS. | 2 | /˘ |
| Now, now thou shalt dance in our dances, | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| Beloved, as a fawn in the night! | 9 | ˘/˘······ |
| The wind is astir for the glances | 9 | ···˘/··/˘ |
| Of thy feet; thou art robed with delight. | 10 | ······˘·˘/ |
| He hath conquered, he cometh to free us | 10 | ··/˘·/˘··· |
| With garlands new-won, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| More high than the crowns of Alpheüs, | 8 | ········ |
| Thine own father's son: | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Cry, cry, for the day that is won! | 8 | ········ |
| ELECTRA. | 3 | ˘/˘ |
| O Light of the Sun, O chariot wheels of flame, | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| O Earth and Night, dead Night without a name | 10 | ·········· |
| That held me! Now mine eyes are raised to see, | 10 | ·········· |
| And all the doorways of my soul flung free. | 10 | ···/······ |
| Aegisthus dead! My father's murderer dead! | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| What have I still of wreathing for the head | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Stored in my chambers? Let it come forth now | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| To bind my brother's and my conqueror's brow. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| (Some garlands are brought out from the house to ELECTRA.) | 13 | ·/˘·······˘/˘ |
| CHORUS. | 2 | /˘ |
| Go, gather thy garlands, and lay them | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| As a crown on his brow, many-tressed, | 10 | ······/˘·˘ |
| But our feet shall refrain not nor stay them: | 10 | ·/··˘/···· |
| 'Tis the joy that the Muses have blest. | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| For our king is returned as from prison, | 11 | ·/˘··˘/··/˘ |
| The old king, to be master again, | 9 | ·····/˘˘/ |
| Our belovèd in justice re-risen: | 10 | /˘···/˘·/˘ |
| With guile he hath slain... | 5 | ····· |
| But cry, cry in joyance again! | 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.