The Pictures of Columbus: Picture XV
The storm hangs low; the angry lightning glaresAnd menaces destruction to our masts;The Corposant is busy on the decks,The soul, perhaps, of some lost admiralTaking his walks about most leisurely,Foreboding we shall be with him to-night:See, now he mounts the shrouds--as he ascendsThe gale grows bolder!--all is violence!Seas, mounting from the bottom of their depths,Hang o'er our heads with all their horrid curlsThreatening perdition to our feeble barques,Which three hours longer cannot bear their fury,Such heavy strokes already shatter them;Who can endure such dreadful company!--Then, must we die with our discovery!Must all my labours, all my pains, be lost,And my new world in old oblivion sleep?--My name forgot, or if it be remember'd,Only to have it said, "He was a madman"Who perish'd as he ought--deservedly--"In seeking what was never to be found!"--Let's obviate what we can this horrid sentence,And, lost ourselves, perhaps, preserve our name.'Tis easy to contrive this painted casket,(Caulk'd, pitch'd, secur'd with canvas round and round)That it may float for months upon the main,Bearing the freight within secure and dry:In this will I an abstract of our voyage,And islands found, in little space enclose:The western winds in time may bear it homeTo Europe's coasts: or some wide wandering shipBy accident may meet it toss'd about,Charg'd with the story of another world.
Words in this poem
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- corposant n.
- St. Elmo's fire. See under Saint. [It. corpo santo holy body.]
- 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,]
- horrid a.
- Rough; rugged; bristling. [L. horridus. See Horror, and cf. Ordure.]
- perdition n.
- Entire loss; utter destruction; ruin; esp., the utter loss of the soul, or of final happiness in a future state; future misery or eternal death. [F., fr. L. perditio, fr. perdere, perditum, to ruin, to lose; per (cf. Skr. para away) + -dere (only in comp.) to put; akin to Gr. do. See Do.]
- dreadful a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- oblivion n.
- The act of forgetting, or the state of being forgotten; cessation of remembrance; forgetfulness. [L. oblivio, akin to oblivisci to forget: cf. OF. oblivion.]
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
- obviate v. t.
- To meet in the way. [L. obviare; ob (see Ob-) + viare to go, fr. via way. See Voyage.]
- casket v. t.
- To put into, or preserve in, a casket.
- enclose v. t.
- To inclose. See Inclose. [F. enclos, p. p. of enclore to enclose; pref. en- (L. in) + clore to close. See Close, and cf. Inclose, Include.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Pictures of Columbus: Picture XV 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 XV, 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-xv.html, id L26061.
Form and metre
The Pictures of Columbus: Picture XV is 33 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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 --------------------A---A-------- glares · masts · decks · admiral · leisurely · night · ascends · violence · depths · curls · barques · fury · them · company · discovery · lost · sleep · remember'd · madman · deservedly · foundA · sentence · name · casket · roundA · main · dry · voyage · enclose · home · ship · about · world
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The storm hangs low; the angry lightning glares | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And menaces destruction to our masts; | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/˘·/· |
| The Corposant is busy on the decks, | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| The soul, perhaps, of some lost admiral | 10 | ··˘/···/˘˘ |
| Taking his walks about most leisurely, | 10 | /˘·····/˘˘ |
| Foreboding we shall be with him to-night: | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| See, now he mounts the shrouds--as he ascends | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The gale grows bolder!--all is violence! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Seas, mounting from the bottom of their depths, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Hang o'er our heads with all their horrid curls | 10 | ··/····/˘· |
| Threatening perdition to our feeble barques, | 10 | /˘˘/˘·//˘· |
| Which three hours longer cannot bear their fury, | 11 | ··//˘/˘··/˘ |
| Such heavy strokes already shatter them; | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘· |
| Who can endure such dreadful company!-- | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘˘ |
| Then, must we die with our discovery! | 11 | ·····/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Must all my labours, all my pains, be lost, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And my new world in old oblivion sleep?-- | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| My name forgot, or if it be remember'd, | 11 | ··˘/····˘/˘ |
| Only to have it said, "He was a madman | 11 | /˘·······/· |
| "Who perish'd as he ought--deservedly-- | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘˘ |
| "In seeking what was never to be found!"-- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Let's obviate what we can this horrid sentence, | 12 | ·/˘·····/˘/˘ |
| And, lost ourselves, perhaps, preserve our name. | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘//· |
| 'Tis easy to contrive this painted casket, | 11 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘/˘ |
| (Caulk'd, pitch'd, secur'd with canvas round and round) | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| That it may float for months upon the main, | 10 | ·········· |
| Bearing the freight within secure and dry: | 10 | /˘····˘/·· |
| In this will I an abstract of our voyage, | 11 | ·····/··//˘ |
| And islands found, in little space enclose: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| The western winds in time may bear it home | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| To Europe's coasts: or some wide wandering ship | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| By accident may meet it toss'd about, | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Charg'd with the story of another world. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
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.