Horace I, 23
Chloe, you shun me like a hindThat, seeking vainly for her mother,Hears danger in each breath of windAnd wildly darts this way and t'other.
Whether the breezes sway the woodOr lizards scuttle through the brambles,She starts, and off, as though pursued,The foolish, frightened creature scrambles.
But, Chloe, you're no infant thingThat should esteem a man an ogre--Let go your mother's apron-stringAnd pin your faith upon a toga!
Words in this poem
- scuttle n.
- A broad, shallow basket. [AS. scutel a dish, platter; cf. Icel. skutill; both fr. L. scutella, dim. of scutra, scuta, a dish or platter; cf. scutum a shield. Cf. Skillet.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Horace I, 23 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, 23, in Hoosier Lyrics (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36150, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-poems/horace-i-23.html, id L11604.
Form and metre
Horace I, 23 is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.6 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 hindA · motherB · windA · t'otherB
- 2 -A-A wood · bramblesA · pursued · scramblesA
- 3 A-A- thingA · ogre · stringA · toga
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Chloe, you shun me like a hind | 8 | /˘······ |
| That, seeking vainly for her mother, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Hears danger in each breath of wind | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And wildly darts this way and t'other. | 10 | ·/˘····˘/˘ |
| Whether the breezes sway the wood | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or lizards scuttle through the brambles, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| She starts, and off, as though pursued, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The foolish, frightened creature scrambles. | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| But, Chloe, you're no infant thing | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That should esteem a man an ogre-- | 9 | ··˘/···/˘ |
| Let go your mother's apron-string | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And pin your faith upon a toga! | 9 | ·······/˘ |
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.