Fourth Stasimon
CHORUS.Now I have no hope more of the children's living;No hope more. They are gone forth unto death.The bride, she taketh the poison of their giving:She taketh the bounden gold and openeth;And the crown, the crown, she lifteth about her brow,Where the light brown curls are clustering. No hope now!
O sweet and cloudy gleam of the garments golden!The robe, it hath clasped her breast and the crown her head.Then, then, she decketh the bride, as a bride of oldenStory, that goeth pale to the kiss of the dead.For the ring hath closed, and the portion of death is there;And she flieth not, but perisheth unaware.
Some Women.O bridegroom, bridegroom of the kiss so cold,Art thou wed with princes, art thou girt with gold,Who know'st not, suingFor thy child's undoing,And, on her thou lovest, for a doom untold?How art thou fallen from thy place of old!
Others.O Mother, Mother, what hast thou to reap,When the harvest cometh, between wake and sleep?For a heart unslaken,For a troth forsaken,Lo, babes that call thee from a bloody deep:And thy love returns not. Get thee forth and weep!
Words in this poem
- bounden a.
- Bound; fastened by bonds. [Old. p. p. of bind.]
- olden a.
- Old; ancient; as, the olden time.
- unaware a.
- Not aware; not noticing; giving no heed; thoughtless; inattentive.
- bridegroom n.
- A man newly married, or just about to be married. [OE. bridegome, brudgume, AS. br (akin to OS. br, D. bruidegom, bruigom, OHG. pr, MHG. briutegome, G. bräutigam); AS. br bride + guma man, akin to Goth. guma, Ic]
- girt v. t.
- To gird; to encircle; to invest by means of a girdle; to measure the girth of; as, to girt a tree. [From Girt, n., cf. Girth, v.]
- suing n.
- The process of soaking through anything. [Cf. F. suer to sweat, L. sudare.]
- undoing n.
- The reversal of what has been done.
- untold a.
- Not told; not related; not revealed; as, untold secrets.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- reap n.
- A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. Wright. [Cf. AS. rip harvest. See Reap, v.]
- troth n.
- Belief; faith; fidelity. [A variant of truth. See Truth.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fourth 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, Fourth Stasimon, in Medea (1906), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #35451, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/euripides-medea/fourth-stasimon.html, id L28759.
Form and metre
Fourth Stasimon is 27 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 59% of the lines: heroic couplets. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 -ABABCC chorus · livingA · deathB · givingA · openethB · browC · nowC
- 2 ABABCC goldenA · headB · oldenA · deadB · thereC · unawareC
- 3 -AABBAA women · coldA · goldA · suingB · undoingB · untoldA · oldA
- 4 -AABBAA others · reapA · sleepA · unslakenB · forsakenB · deepA · weepA
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 I have no hope more of the children's living; | 12 | ········/˘/˘ |
| No hope more. They are gone forth unto death. | 10 | ·········· |
| The bride, she taketh the poison of their giving: | 12 | ···/˘·/˘··/˘ |
| She taketh the bounden gold and openeth; | 11 | ·/˘·/˘··/˘˘ |
| And the crown, the crown, she lifteth about her brow, | 12 | ······/˘···· |
| Where the light brown curls are clustering. No hope now! | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| O sweet and cloudy gleam of the garments golden! | 12 | ···/˘···/˘/˘ |
| The robe, it hath clasped her breast and the crown her head. | 12 | ············ |
| Then, then, she decketh the bride, as a bride of olden | 13 | ···/˘······/˘ |
| Story, that goeth pale to the kiss of the dead. | 11 | /˘········· |
| For the ring hath closed, and the portion of death is there; | 13 | ·······/˘···· |
| And she flieth not, but perisheth unaware. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Some Women. | 3 | ·/˘ |
| O bridegroom, bridegroom of the kiss so cold, | 10 | ·/·/······ |
| Art thou wed with princes, art thou girt with gold, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Who know'st not, suing | 5 | ···/˘ |
| For thy child's undoing, | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| And, on her thou lovest, for a doom untold? | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| How art thou fallen from thy place of old! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Others. | 2 | /˘ |
| O Mother, Mother, what hast thou to reap, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| When the harvest cometh, between wake and sleep? | 11 | ··/˘/˘····· |
| For a heart unslaken, | 6 | ······ |
| For a troth forsaken, | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Lo, babes that call thee from a bloody deep: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And thy love returns not. Get thee forth and weep! | 11 | ···˘/······ |
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.