Horace to His Patron
Maecenas, you're of noble line--(Of which the proof convincingIs that you buy me all my wineWithout so much as wincing.)
To different men of different mindsCome different kinds of pleasure;There's Marshall Field--what joy he findsIn shears and cloth-yard measure!
With joy Prof. Swing is filledWhile preaching godly sermons;With bliss is Hobart Taylor thrilledWhen he is leading germans.
While Uncle Joe Medill prefersTo run a daily paper,To Walter Gresham it occursThat law's the proper caper.
With comedy a winning card,How blithe is Richard Hooley;Per contra, making soap and lard,Rejoices Fairbank duly.
While Armour in the sugar hamHis summum bonum reaches,MacVeagh's as happy as a clamIn canning pears and peaches.
Let Farwell glory in the frayWhich party hate increases--His son-in-law delights to playGavottes and such like pieces.
So each betakes him to his task--So each his hobby nurses--While I--well, all the boon I askIs leave to write my verses.
Give, give that precious boon to meAnd I shall envy no man;If not the noblest I shall beAt least the happiest Roman!
Words in this poem
- wincing n.
- The act of washing cloth, dipping it in dye, etc., with a wince. Wincing machine. (a) A wince. Ure. (b) A succession of winces.
- walter v. i.
- To roll or wallow; to welter. [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.] [See Welter.]
- blithe a.
- Gay; merry; sprightly; joyous; glad; cheerful; as, a blithe spirit. [AS. bli blithe, kind; akin to Goth. blei kind, Icel. bli mild, gentle, Dan. & Sw. blid gentle, D. blijd blithe, OHG. blidi kind, blithe.]
- contra
- A Latin adverb and preposition, signifying against, contrary, in opposition, etc., entering as a prefix into the composition of many English words. Cf. Counter, adv. & pref.
- armour n.
- Defensive arms for the body; any clothing or covering worn to protect one's person in battle. [OE. armure, fr. F. armure, OF. armeure, fr. L. armatura. See Armature.]
- hobby n.
- A small, strong-winged European falcon (Falco subbuteo), formerly trained for hawking. [OE. hobi; cf. OF. hobe, hobé, F. hobereau a hobby, a species of falcon. OF. hober to move, stir. Cf. Hobby a horse.]
- boon n.
- A prayer or petition. [OE. bone, boin, a petition, fr. Icel. b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, AS. b, and perh. to E. ban; but influenced by F. bon good, fr. L. bonus. Ban, Bounty.]
- 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 to His Patron 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 to His Patron, in Hoosier Lyrics (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36150, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-poems/horace-to-his-patron.html, id L11614.
Form and metre
Horace to His Patron is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 18 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 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 ABAB lineA · convincingB · wineA · wincingB
- 2 ABAB mindsA · pleasureB · findsA · measureB
- 3 ABAB filledA · sermonsB · thrilledA · germansB
- 4 ABAB prefersA · paperB · occursA · caperB
- 5 ABAB cardA · hooleyB · lardA · dulyB
- 6 ABAB hamA · reachesB · clamA · peachesB
- 7 ABAB frayA · increasesB · playA · piecesB
- 8 ABAB taskA · nursesB · askA · versesB
- 9 ABAB meA · manB · beA · romanB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Maecenas, you're of noble line-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| (Of which the proof convincing | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Is that you buy me all my wine | 8 | ········ |
| Without so much as wincing.) | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| To different men of different minds | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Come different kinds of pleasure; | 8 | ·/˘˘··/˘ |
| There's Marshall Field--what joy he finds | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In shears and cloth-yard measure! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| With joy Prof. Swing is filled | 7 | ······˘ |
| While preaching godly sermons; | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| With bliss is Hobart Taylor thrilled | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| When he is leading germans. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| While Uncle Joe Medill prefers | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘/ |
| To run a daily paper, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| To Walter Gresham it occurs | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| That law's the proper caper. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| With comedy a winning card, | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| How blithe is Richard Hooley; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Per contra, making soap and lard, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Rejoices Fairbank duly. | 7 | ˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| While Armour in the sugar ham | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| His summum bonum reaches, | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| MacVeagh's as happy as a clam | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In canning pears and peaches. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Let Farwell glory in the fray | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| Which party hate increases-- | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| His son-in-law delights to play | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Gavottes and such like pieces. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| So each betakes him to his task-- | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| So each his hobby nurses-- | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| While I--well, all the boon I ask | 8 | ········ |
| Is leave to write my verses. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Give, give that precious boon to me | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And I shall envy no man; | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| If not the noblest I shall be | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| At least the happiest Roman! | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
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.