Horace Ii, 7
Pompey, what fortune gives you backTo the friends and the gods who love you--Once more you stand in your native land,With your native sky above you!Ah, side by side, in years agone,We've faced tempestuous weather,And often quaffedThe genial draftFrom an amphora together!
When honor at Phillippi fellA pray to brutal passion,I regret to say that my feet ran awayIn swift Iambic fashion;You were no poet-soldier born,You staid, nor did you wince then--Mercury cameTo my help, which sameHas frequently saved me since then.
But now you're back, let's celebrateIn the good old way and classic--Come, let us lard our skins with nardAnd bedew our souls with Massic!With fillets of green parsley leavesOur foreheads shall be done up,And with song shall weProtract our spreeUntil the morrow's sun-up.
Words in this poem
- genial a.
- Contributing to, or concerned in, propagation or production; generative; procreative; productive. [L. genialis: cf. OF. genial. See Genius.]
- amphora n.
- Among the ancients, a two-handled vessel, tapering at the bottom, used for holding wine, oil, etc. [L., fr. Gr. Ampul.]
- classic a.
- Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art. [L. classicus relating to the classes of the Roman people, and especially to the frist class; hence, of the first rank, superior, from classis class: cf. F. clas]
- nard n.
- An East Indian plant (Nardostachys Jatamansi) of the Valerian family, used from remote ages in Oriental perfumery. [AS., fr. L. nardus, Gr. nêrd, Per. nard, Scr. nalada.]
- bedew v. t.
- To moisten with dew, or as with dew.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Horace Ii, 7 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 Ii, 7, in Hoosier Lyrics (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36150, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-poems/horace-ii-7.html, id L11610.
Form and metre
Horace Ii, 7 is 27 lines in 3 stanzas of 9 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 44% 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-BCCB back · youA · land · youA · agone · weatherB · quaffedC · draftC · togetherB
- 2 -A-A-BCCB fell · passionA · away · fashionA · born · thenB · cameC · sameC · thenB
- 3 -A-A-BCCB celebrate · classicA · nard · massicA · leaves · upB · weC · spreeC · upB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pompey, what fortune gives you back | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| To the friends and the gods who love you-- | 9 | ········· |
| Once more you stand in your native land, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| With your native sky above you! | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Ah, side by side, in years agone, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| We've faced tempestuous weather, | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| And often quaffed | 4 | ·/˘· |
| The genial draft | 4 | ·/˘· |
| From an amphora together! | 8 | ··/˘˘˘/˘ |
| When honor at Phillippi fell | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| A pray to brutal passion, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| I regret to say that my feet ran away | 11 | ·˘/······˘/ |
| In swift Iambic fashion; | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| You were no poet-soldier born, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| You staid, nor did you wince then-- | 7 | ······· |
| Mercury came | 4 | /˘˘· |
| To my help, which same | 5 | ····· |
| Has frequently saved me since then. | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| But now you're back, let's celebrate | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In the good old way and classic-- | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Come, let us lard our skins with nard | 8 | ····/··· |
| And bedew our souls with Massic! | 8 | ·˘//···· |
| With fillets of green parsley leaves | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Our foreheads shall be done up, | 8 | /˘/····· |
| And with song shall we | 5 | ····· |
| Protract our spree | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| Until the morrow's sun-up. | 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.