Horace I, 20
Than you, O valued friend of mine!A better patron non est--Come, quaff my home-made Sabine wine--You'll find it poor but honest.
I put it up that famous dayYou patronized the balletAnd the public cheered you such a wayAs shook your native valley.
Caecuban and the Calean brandMay elsewhere claim attention,But I have none of these on hand--For reasons I'll not mention.
Words in this poem
- quaff v. t.
- To drink with relish; to drink copiously of; to swallow in large draughts. [For quach, fr. Gael. & Ir. cuach a drinking cup; cf. L. caucus a drinking vessel. Cf. Quaigh.]
- sabine a.
- Of or pertaining to the ancient Sabines, a people of Italy. [L. Sabinus.]
- ballet n.
- An artistic dance performed as a theatrical entertainment, or an interlude, by a number of persons, usually women. Sometimes, a scene accompanied by pantomime and dancing. [F., a dim. of bal dance. See 2d Ball, n.]
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Horace I, 20 is in the public domain. This text is taken from Hoosier Lyrics, Project Gutenberg ebook #36150; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eugene Field, Horace I, 20, in Hoosier Lyrics (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36150, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-poems/horace-i-20.html, id L11608.
Form and metre
Horace I, 20 is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 A-A- mineA · est · wineA · honest
- 2 AAA- dayA · balletA · wayA · valley
- 3 ABAB brandA · attentionB · handA · mentionB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Than you, O valued friend of mine! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A better patron non est-- | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Come, quaff my home-made Sabine wine-- | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| You'll find it poor but honest. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| I put it up that famous day | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| You patronized the ballet | 8 | ·/˘·˘·˘/ |
| And the public cheered you such a way | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| As shook your native valley. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Caecuban and the Calean brand | 8 | ········ |
| May elsewhere claim attention, | 7 | ·/··˘/˘ |
| But I have none of these on hand-- | 8 | ········ |
| For reasons I'll not mention. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
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.