Horace to Maecenas
Dear noble friend! a virgin caskOf wine solicits attention--And roses fair, to deck your hair,And things too numerous to mention,So tear yourself awhile awayFrom urban turmoil, pride and splendorAnd deign to share what humble fareAnd sumptuous fellowship I tender;The sweet content retirement bringsSmoothes out the ruffled front of kings.
The evil planets have combinedTo make the weather hot and hotter--By parboiled streams the shepherd dreamsVainly of ice-cream soda-water;And meanwhile you, defying heat,With patriotic ardor ponderOn what old Rome essays at homeAnd what her heathen do out yonder.Maecenas, no such vain alarmDisturbs the quiet of this farm!
God in his providence observesThe goal beyond this vale of sorrow,And smiles at men in pity whenThey seek to penetrate the morrow.With faith that all is for the best,Let's bear what burdens are presented,That we shall say, let come what may,"We die, as we have lived, contented!Ours is to-day; God's is the rest--He doth ordain who knoweth best!"
Dame Fortune plays me many a prank--When she is kind, oh! how I go it!But if, again, she's harsh, why, thenI am a very proper poet!When favoring gales bring in my ships,I hie to Rome and live in clover--Elsewise, I steer my skiff out here,And anchor till the storm blows over.Compulsory virtue is the charmOf life upon the Sabine farm!
Words in this poem
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- urban a.
- Of or belonging to a city or town; as, an urban population. [L. urbanus belonging to the urbs, urbis, a city: cf. F. urbain. Cf. Urbane.]
- turmoil v. t.
- To harass with commotion; to disquiet; to worry.
- deign v. t.
- To esteem worthy; to consider worth notice; -- opposed to disdain. [OE. deinen, deignen, OF. degner, deigner, daigner, F. daigner, fr. L. dignari to deem worthy, deign, fr. dignus worthy; akin to decere to be fitting. See Decent]
- meanwhile n.
- The intervening time; as, in the meantime (or mean time).
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- 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,]
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- skiff n.
- A small, light boat. [F. esquif, fr. OHG. skif, G. schiff. See Ship.]
- sabine a.
- Of or pertaining to the ancient Sabines, a people of Italy. [L. Sabinus.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Horace to Maecenas 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 Maecenas, in Hoosier Lyrics (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36150, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-poems/horace-to-maecenas.html, id L11600.
Form and metre
Horace to Maecenas is 40 lines in 4 stanzas of 10 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.3 syllables. 14 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 35% 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 -ABA-CBCDD cask · attentionA · hairB · mentionA · away · splendorC · fareB · tenderC · bringsD · kingsD
- 2 -----A-ABB combined · hotter · dreams · water · heat · ponderA · home · yonderA · alarmB · farmB
- 3 -A-ABC-CBB observes · sorrowA · when · morrowA · bestB · presentedC · may · contentedC · restB · bestB
- 4 -A-A-B-BCC prank · itA · then · poetA · ships · cloverB · here · overB · charmC · farmC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dear noble friend! a virgin cask | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Of wine solicits attention-- | 8 | ··˘/˘˘/˘ |
| And roses fair, to deck your hair, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And things too numerous to mention, | 9 | ···/˘˘·/˘ |
| So tear yourself awhile away | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘/ |
| From urban turmoil, pride and splendor | 9 | ·/˘/···/˘ |
| And deign to share what humble fare | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And sumptuous fellowship I tender; | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| The sweet content retirement brings | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Smoothes out the ruffled front of kings. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The evil planets have combined | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| To make the weather hot and hotter-- | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| By parboiled streams the shepherd dreams | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Vainly of ice-cream soda-water; | 9 | /˘···/˘/˘ |
| And meanwhile you, defying heat, | 8 | ·/··˘/˘· |
| With patriotic ardor ponder | 9 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| On what old Rome essays at home | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And what her heathen do out yonder. | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Maecenas, no such vain alarm | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Disturbs the quiet of this farm! | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| God in his providence observes | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| The goal beyond this vale of sorrow, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And smiles at men in pity when | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| They seek to penetrate the morrow. | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| With faith that all is for the best, | 8 | ········ |
| Let's bear what burdens are presented, | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| That we shall say, let come what may, | 8 | ········ |
| "We die, as we have lived, contented! | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Ours is to-day; God's is the rest-- | 8 | /······· |
| He doth ordain who knoweth best!" | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Dame Fortune plays me many a prank-- | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| When she is kind, oh! how I go it! | 9 | ········· |
| But if, again, she's harsh, why, then | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| I am a very proper poet! | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| When favoring gales bring in my ships, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I hie to Rome and live in clover-- | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Elsewise, I steer my skiff out here, | 8 | /˘······ |
| And anchor till the storm blows over. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Compulsory virtue is the charm | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| Of life upon the Sabine farm! | 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.