Laurel · Théophile Gautier · Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems

Art

Théophile Gautier (1811–1872), translated by Agnes Lee · 1903

iambic trimeter · rhyming couplets · 45 lines · from Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems

More fair the work, more strong,Stamped in resistance long,--Enamel, marble, song.

Poet, no shackles bear,Yet bid thy Muse to wearThe buskin bound with care.

A fashion loose forsake,--A shoe of sloven make,That any foot may take.

Sculptor, the clay withstand,That yieldeth to the hand,Though listless heart command.

Contend till thou have wrought,Till the hard stone have caughtThe beauty of thy thought.

With Paros match thy might,And with Carrara bright,That guard the line of light.

Borrow from SyracuseThe bronze's stubborn use,Wherein thy form to choose.

And with a delicate graceIn the veined onyx traceApollo's perfect face.

Painter, put thou asideThe transient. Be thy prideThe colour furnace-tried.

Limn thou, fantastic, freeBlue sirens of the sea,And beasts of heraldry.

Before a nimbus goldTranscendently upholdThe Child, the Cross foretold.

Things perish. Gods have passed.But song sublimely castShall citadels outlast.

And the forgotten sealTurned by the plowman's steelAn emperor may reveal.

For Art alone is great:The bust survives the state,The crown the potentate.

Carve, burnish, build thy theme,--But fix thy wavering dreamIn the stern rock supreme.

Words in this poem 15

buskin n.: A strong, protecting covering for the foot, coming some distance up the leg. [Prob. from OF. brossequin, or D. broosken. See Brodekin.]
sloven n.: A man or boy habitually negligent of neathess and order; -- the correlative term to slattern, or slut. [D. slaf careless, negligent, a sloven; akin to LG. sluf slovenly.]
sculptor n.: One who sculptures; one whose occupation is to carve statues, or works of sculpture. [L. sculptor, fr. sculpere, sculptum, to carve; cf. scalpere to cut, carve, scratch, and Gr. sculpteur.]
listless a.: Having no desire or inclination; indifferent; heedless; spiritless. [OE. listles, lustles. See Lust.]
borrow v. t.: To receive from another as a loan, with the implied or expressed intention of returning the identical article or its equivalent in kind; -- the opposite of lend. [OE. borwen, AS. borgian, fr. borg, borh, pledge; akin to D. borg, G. borg; prob. fr. root of AS. beorgan to protect. Borough.]
syracuse n.: A red wine of Italy.
limn v. t.: To draw or paint; especially, to represent in an artistic way with pencil or brush. [OE. limnen, fr. luminen, for enluminen, F. enluminer to illuminate, to limn, LL. illuminare to paint. Illuminate, Luminous.]
heraldry n.: The art or office of a herald; the art, practice, or science of recording genealogies, and blazoning arms or ensigns armorial; also, of marshaling cavalcades, processions, and public ceremonies.
nimbus n.: A circle, or disk, or any indication of radiant light around the heads of divinities, saints, and sovereigns, upon medals, pictures, etc.; a halo. See Aureola, and Glory, n., 5. [L., a rain storm, a rain cloud, the cloudshaped which enveloped the gods when they appeared on earth.]
transcendently adv.: In a transcendent manner.
sublimely adv.: In a sublime manner.
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,]
outlast v. t.: To exceed in duration; to survive; to endure longer than.
potentate n.: One who is potent; one who possesses great power or sway; a prince, sovereign, or monarch. [LL. potentatus, fr. potentare to exercise power: cf. F. potentat. See Potent, a.]
burnish v. t.: To cause to shine; to make smooth and bright; to polish; specifically, to polish by rubbing with something hard and smooth; as, to burnish brass or paper. [OE. burnischen, burnissen, burnen, OF. burnir, brunir, to make brown, polish, F. brunir, fr. F. brun brown, fr. OHG. br; cf. MHG. briunen to make brown, polish.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Art is in the public domain. This text is taken from Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #29521, the Agnes Lee translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Théophile Gautier, Art, in Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29521, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/gautier-enamels-cameos/art.html, id L27035.

Form and metre

Art is 45 lines in 15 stanzas of 3 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).

See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in iambic trimeter.

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 AAA strong^A · long^A · song^A
2 AAA bear^A · wear^A · care^A
3 AAA forsake^A · make^A · take^A
4 AAA withstand^A · hand^A · command^A
5 AAA wrought^A · caught^A · thought^A
6 AAA might^A · bright^A · light^A
7 AAA syracuse^A · use^A · choose^A
8 AAA grace^A · trace^A · face^A
9 AAA aside^A · pride^A · tried^A
10 AAA free^A · sea^A · heraldry^A
11 AAA gold^A · uphold^A · foretold^A
12 AAA passed^A · cast^A · outlast^A
13 AAA seal^A · steel^A · reveal^A
14 AAA great^A · state^A · potentate^A
15 AAA theme^A · dream^A · supreme^A

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 trimeter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
More fair the work, more strong,	6	······
Stamped in resistance long,--	6	··˘/˘·
Enamel, marble, song.	6	˘/˘/˘·
Poet, no shackles bear,	6	/˘·/˘·
Yet bid thy Muse to wear	6	······
The buskin bound with care.	6	·/˘···
A fashion loose forsake,--	6	·/˘·˘/
A shoe of sloven make,	6	···/˘·
That any foot may take.	6	·/˘···
Sculptor, the clay withstand,	6	/˘··˘/
That yieldeth to the hand,	6	·/˘···
Though listless heart command.	6	·/˘·˘/
Contend till thou have wrought,	6	˘/····
Till the hard stone have caught	6	······
The beauty of thy thought.	6	·/˘···
With Paros match thy might,	6	·/˘···
And with Carrara bright,	6	···/˘·
That guard the line of light.	6	······
Borrow from Syracuse	6	/··/˘·
The bronze's stubborn use,	6	·/˘/˘·
Wherein thy form to choose.	6	······
And with a delicate grace	6	···/˘·
In the veined onyx trace	6	···/˘·
Apollo's perfect face.	6	˘/˘/··
Painter, put thou aside	6	/˘··˘/
The transient. Be thy pride	6	·/˘···
The colour furnace-tried.	6	·/˘/˘·
Limn thou, fantastic, free	6	··˘/˘·
Blue sirens of the sea,	6	·/˘···
And beasts of heraldry.	6	···/˘˘
Before a nimbus gold	6	···/˘·
Transcendently uphold	6	˘/˘˘˘/
The Child, the Cross foretold.	6	····˘/
Things perish. Gods have passed.	6	·/˘···
But song sublimely cast	6	··˘/˘·
Shall citadels outlast.	6	·/˘·˘/
And the forgotten seal	6	··˘/˘·
Turned by the plowman's steel	6	···/˘·
An emperor may reveal.	6	·/˘·˘/
For Art alone is great:	6	··˘/··
The bust survives the state,	6	··˘/··
The crown the potentate.	6	···/˘·
Carve, burnish, build thy theme,--	6	·/˘···
But fix thy wavering dream	6	···/˘·
In the stern rock supreme.	6	····˘/

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.

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