Carmen
Slender is Carmen, of lissome guise,Her hair is black as the midnight's heart;Dark circles are under her gypsy eyes,Her swarthy skin is the devil's art.
The women will mock at her form and face;But the men will follow her all the day.Toledo's Archbishop (now save His Grace!)Tones his mass at her knees, they say.
Nestled in warmth of her amber neckLies a massive coil, till she fling it downTo be a raiment to frame and deckHer delicate body from foot to crown.
Then out from her pallid face with powerHer witching, terrible smiles compel.Her mouth is a mystical poison-flowerThat hath drawn its crimson from hearts in hell.
The haughtiest beauty must yield her fame,When this strange vision shall dusk her sky.For Carmen rules, and her glance's flameShall set the torch to satiety.
Wild, graceless Carmen!--Though yet this be,Savour she hath of a world undreamt,Of a world of wonder, whose salt young seaProvoked a Venus to rise and tempt.
Words in this poem
- lissome a.
- Limber; supple; flexible; lithe; lithesome. [For lithesome.]
- witching a.
- That witches or enchants; suited to enchantment or witchcraft; bewitching.
- 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,]
- graceless a.
- Wanting in grace or excellence; departed from, or deprived of, divine grace; hence, depraved; corrupt.
- savour v. t.
- To perceive by the smell or the taste; hence, to perceive; to note. B. Jonson.
- undreamt a.
- Not dreamed, or dreamed of; not thof.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Carmen 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, Carmen, in Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29521, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/gautier-enamels-cameos/carmen.html, id L27020.
Form and metre
Carmen is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 77%).
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 ABAB guiseA · heartB · eyesA · artB
- 2 ABAB faceA · dayB · graceA · sayB
- 3 ABAB neckA · downB · deckA · crownB
- 4 ABAB powerA · compelB · flowerA · hellB
- 5 ABAB fameA · skyB · flameA · satietyB
- 6 ABAB beA · undreamtB · seaA · temptB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Slender is Carmen, of lissome guise, | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| Her hair is black as the midnight's heart; | 9 | ······/·· |
| Dark circles are under her gypsy eyes, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Her swarthy skin is the devil's art. | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| The women will mock at her form and face; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But the men will follow her all the day. | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Toledo's Archbishop (now save His Grace!) | 10 | ˘/˘//˘···· |
| Tones his mass at her knees, they say. | 8 | ········ |
| Nestled in warmth of her amber neck | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| Lies a massive coil, till she fling it down | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| To be a raiment to frame and deck | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Her delicate body from foot to crown. | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Then out from her pallid face with power | 9 | ····/˘··/ |
| Her witching, terrible smiles compel. | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Her mouth is a mystical poison-flower | 9 | ····/˘/˘/ |
| That hath drawn its crimson from hearts in hell. | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| The haughtiest beauty must yield her fame, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| When this strange vision shall dusk her sky. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| For Carmen rules, and her glance's flame | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Shall set the torch to satiety. | 9 | ·····˘/˘˘ |
| Wild, graceless Carmen!--Though yet this be, | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Savour she hath of a world undreamt, | 9 | /˘······· |
| Of a world of wonder, whose salt young sea | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Provoked a Venus to rise and tempt. | 9 | ˘/·/˘···· |
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.