First Stasimon
CHORUS.Back streams the wave on the ever running river:Life, life is changed and the laws of it o'ertrod.Man shall be the slave, the affrighted, the low-liver!Man hath forgotten God.And woman, yea, woman, shall be terrible in story:The tales too, meseemeth, shall be other than of yore.For a fear there is that cometh out of Woman and a glory,And the hard hating voices shall encompass her no more!
The old bards shall cease, and their memory that lingersOf frail brides and faithless, shall be shrivelled as with fire.For they loved us not, nor knew us: and our lips were dumb, our fingersCould wake not the secret of the lyre.Else, else, O God the Singer, I had sung amid their ragesA long tale of Man and his deeds for good and ill.But the old World knoweth--'tis the speech of all his ages--Man's wrong and ours: he knoweth and is still.
Some Women.Forth from thy father's homeThou camest, O heart of fire,To the Dark Blue Rocks, to the clashing foam,To the seas of thy desire:
Till the Dark Blue Bar was crossed;And, lo, by an alien riverStanding, thy lover lost,Void-armed for ever,
Forth yet again, O lowestOf landless women, a rangerOf desolate ways, thou goest,From the walls of the stranger.
Others.And the great Oath waxeth weak;And Ruth, as a thing outstriven,Is fled, fled, from the shores of the Greek,Away on the winds of heaven.
Dark is the house afar,Where an old king called thee daughter;All that was once thy starIn stormy water,
Dark: and, lo, in the nearerHouse that was sworn to love thee,Another, queenlier, dearer,Is throned above thee.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- landless a.
- Having no property in land.
- ranger n.
- One who ranges; a rover; sometimes, one who ranges for plunder; a roving robber.
- ruth n.
- Sorrow for the misery of another; pity; tenderness. [From Rue, v.: cf. Icel. hryggedh, hrygedh.]
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
First Stasimon is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Medea of Euripides, translated into English rhyming verse by Gilbert Murray, Project Gutenberg ebook #35451, 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, First Stasimon, in Medea (1906), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #35451, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/euripides-medea/first-stasimon.html, id L28753.
Form and metre
First Stasimon is 43 lines in 8 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 4 of its 8 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
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 -ABABCDCD chorus · riverA · o'ertrodB · liverA · godB · storyC · yoreD · gloryC · moreD
- 2 ABABCDCD lingersA · fireB · fingersA · lyreB · ragesC · illD · agesC · stillD
- 3 -ABAB women · homeA · fireB · foamA · desireB
- 4 ABAB crossedA · riverB · lostA · everB
- 5 ABAB lowestA · rangerB · goestA · strangerB
- 6 -A-A- others · weakA · outstriven · greekA · heaven
- 7 ABAB afarA · daughterB · starA · waterB
- 8 ABAB nearerA · theeB · dearerA · theeB
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 | /˘ |
| Back streams the wave on the ever running river: | 11 | ······//˘/˘ |
| Life, life is changed and the laws of it o'ertrod. | 11 | ··········· |
| Man shall be the slave, the affrighted, the low-liver! | 13 | ···········/˘ |
| Man hath forgotten God. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| And woman, yea, woman, shall be terrible in story: | 13 | ·/˘·/˘··/˘·/˘ |
| The tales too, meseemeth, shall be other than of yore. | 13 | ········/˘··· |
| For a fear there is that cometh out of Woman and a glory, | 16 | ······/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| And the hard hating voices shall encompass her no more! | 14 | ···/˘/˘·˘/˘··· |
| The old bards shall cease, and their memory that lingers | 12 | ·······/˘·/˘ |
| Of frail brides and faithless, shall be shrivelled as with fire. | 13 | ····/˘··/˘··/ |
| For they loved us not, nor knew us: and our lips were dumb, our fingers | 16 | ·········/···//˘ |
| Could wake not the secret of the lyre. | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Else, else, O God the Singer, I had sung amid their rages | 15 | ·····/˘···˘/·/˘ |
| A long tale of Man and his deeds for good and ill. | 12 | ············ |
| But the old World knoweth--'tis the speech of all his ages-- | 14 | ····/˘······/˘ |
| Man's wrong and ours: he knoweth and is still. | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| Some Women. | 3 | ·/˘ |
| Forth from thy father's home | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Thou camest, O heart of fire, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| To the Dark Blue Rocks, to the clashing foam, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To the seas of thy desire: | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Till the Dark Blue Bar was crossed; | 7 | ······· |
| And, lo, by an alien river | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
| Standing, thy lover lost, | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Void-armed for ever, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Forth yet again, O lowest | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| Of landless women, a ranger | 8 | ·/˘/˘·/˘ |
| Of desolate ways, thou goest, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| From the walls of the stranger. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Others. | 2 | /˘ |
| And the great Oath waxeth weak; | 7 | ······· |
| And Ruth, as a thing outstriven, | 8 | ········ |
| Is fled, fled, from the shores of the Greek, | 9 | ········· |
| Away on the winds of heaven. | 8 | ˘/····/˘ |
| Dark is the house afar, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Where an old king called thee daughter; | 9 | ·····˘·/˘ |
| All that was once thy star | 6 | ······ |
| In stormy water, | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Dark: and, lo, in the nearer | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| House that was sworn to love thee, | 7 | ······· |
| Another, queenlier, dearer, | 7 | ˘/˘··/˘ |
| Is throned above thee. | 5 | ····· |
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