The Pictures of Columbus: Picture XI
This persevering man succeeds at last!The last gazette has publish'd to the worldThat Ferdinand and Isabella grantThree well rigg'd ships to Christopher Columbus;And have bestow'd the noble titles tooOf Admiral and Vice-Roy--great indeed!--Who will not now project, and scrawl on paper--Pretenders now shall be advanc'd to honour;And every pedant that can frame a problem,And every lad that can draw parallelsOr measure the subtension of an angle,Shall now have ships to make discoveries.This simple man would sail he knows not where;Building on fables, schemes of certainty;--Visions of Plato, mix'd with idle talesOf later date, intoxicate his brain:Let him advance beyond a certain pointIn his fantastic voyage, and I foretellHe never can return: ay, let him go!--There is a line towards the setting sunDrawn on an ocean of tremendous depth,(Where nature plac'd the limits of the day)Haunted by dragons, fond of solitude,Red serpents, fiery forms, and yelling hags,Fit company for mad adventurers.--There, when the sun descends, 'tis horror all;His angry globe through vast abysses glidingBurns in the briny bosom of the deepMaking a havoc so detestable,And causing such a wasteful ebullitionThat never island green, or continentCould find foundation, there to grow upon.
Words in this poem
- gazette n.
- A newspaper; a printed sheet published periodically; esp., the official journal published by the British government, and containing legal and state notices. [F. gazette, It. gazzetta, perh. from gazetta a Venetian coin (see Gazet), said to have been the price of the first newspaper published at Venice; or perh. dim. ]
- isabella n.
- A brownish yellow color. [Said to be named from the Spanish princess Isabella, daughter of king Philip II., in allusion to the color assumed by her shift, which she wore without change f]
- scrawl v. t.
- To draw or mark awkwardly and irregularly; to write hastily and carelessly; to scratch; to scribble; as, to scrawl a letter. [Probably corrupted from scrabble.]
- 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,]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- pedant n.
- A schoolmaster; a pedagogue. [F. pédant, It. pedante, fr. Gr. pai^s boy. See Pedagogue.]
- intoxicate v. t.
- To poison; to drug. South.
- tremendous a.
- Fitted to excite fear or terror; such as may astonish or terrify by its magnitude, force, or violence; terrible; dreadful; as, a tremendous wind; a tremendous shower; a tremendous shock or fall. [L. tremendus that is to be trembled at, fearful, fr. tremere to tremble. See Tremble.]
- haunted a.
- Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- briny a.
- Of or pertaining to brine, or to the sea; partaking of the nature of brine; salt; as, a briny taste; the briny flood. [From Brine.]
- havoc n.
- Wide and general destruction; devastation; waste. [W. hafog devastation, havoc; or, if this be itself fr. E. havoc, cf. OE. havot, or AS. hafoc hawk, which is a cruel or rapacious bird, or F. hai, voux! a cry to]
- continent a.
- Serving to restrain or limit; restraining; opposing. [L. continens, -entis, prop., p. pr. of continere to hold together, to repress: cf. F. continent. See Contain.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Pictures of Columbus: Picture XI is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Philip Freneau, Poet of the American Revolution. Volume 1 (of 3), Project Gutenberg ebook #38475; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Philip Freneau, The Pictures of Columbus: Picture XI, in Columbus to Ferdinand, and other poems (1786–1815), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38475, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/freneau-poems/the-pictures-of-columbus-picture-xi.html, id L26057.
Form and metre
The Pictures of Columbus: Picture XI is 32 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| This persevering man succeeds at last! | 10 | ·˘˘/˘·˘/·· |
| The last gazette has publish'd to the world | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| That Ferdinand and Isabella grant | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Three well rigg'd ships to Christopher Columbus; | 11 | ·····/˘˘˘/˘ |
| And have bestow'd the noble titles too | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Of Admiral and Vice-Roy--great indeed!-- | 10 | ·/˘˘····˘/ |
| Who will not now project, and scrawl on paper-- | 11 | ····˘/···/˘ |
| Pretenders now shall be advanc'd to honour; | 11 | ˘/˘···˘/·/˘ |
| And every pedant that can frame a problem, | 11 | ·/˘/˘····/˘ |
| And every lad that can draw parallels | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Or measure the subtension of an angle, | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| Shall now have ships to make discoveries. | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| This simple man would sail he knows not where; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Building on fables, schemes of certainty;-- | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Visions of Plato, mix'd with idle tales | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Of later date, intoxicate his brain: | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Let him advance beyond a certain point | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| In his fantastic voyage, and I foretell | 11 | ··˘/˘/˘··˘/ |
| He never can return: ay, let him go!-- | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| There is a line towards the setting sun | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Drawn on an ocean of tremendous depth, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| (Where nature plac'd the limits of the day) | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Haunted by dragons, fond of solitude, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Red serpents, fiery forms, and yelling hags, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Fit company for mad adventurers.-- | 10 | ·/˘˘··˘/˘˘ |
| There, when the sun descends, 'tis horror all; | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| His angry globe through vast abysses gliding | 11 | ·/˘···˘/˘/˘ |
| Burns in the briny bosom of the deep | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Making a havoc so detestable, | 10 | /˘·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| And causing such a wasteful ebullition | 11 | ·/˘··/˘···· |
| That never island green, or continent | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| Could find foundation, there to grow upon. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
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