Carnival
Venice robes her for the ball;Decked with spangles bright,Multi-coloured CarnivalTeems with laughter light.
Harlequin with negro mask,Tights of serpent hue,Beateth with a note fantasqueHis Cassander true.
Flapping loose his long, white sleeve,Like a penguin spread,Through a subtle semibrevePierrot thrusts his head.
Sleek Bologna's doctor goesMaundering on a bass.Punchinello finds for noseQuaver on his face.
Hurtling Trivellino fine,On a trill intent,Scaramouch to ColumbineGives the fan she lent.
Gliding to the tune, I markOne veiled figure rise,While through satin lashes darkLuring gleam her eyes.
Tender little edge of lace,Heaving with her breath!"Under is her own dear face!"An arpeggio saith.
And beneath the mask I knowBloom of rosy lips,And the patch on chin of snow,As she by me trips!
Words in this poem
- coloured a.
- Having color; tinged; dyed; painted; stained.
- tights n.
- Close-fitting garments, especially for the lower part of the body and the legs.
- semibreve n.
- A note of half the time or duration of the breve; -- now usually called a whole note. It is the longest note in general use. [Pref. semi- + breve: cf. F. semi-breve, It. semibreve.]
- punchinello n.
- A punch; a buffoon; originally, in a puppet show, a character represented as fat, short, and humpbacked. Spectator. [It. pulcinella, probably originally a word of endearment, dim. of pulcina, pulcino, a chicken, from L. pullicenus, pullus. See Pullet.]
- scaramouch n.
- A personage in the old Italian comedy (derived from Spain) characterized by great boastfulness and poltroonery; hence, a person of like characteristics; a buffoon. [F. scaramouche, It.scaramuccio, scaramuccia, originally the name of a celebrated Italian comedian; cf. It. scaramuccia, scaramuccio, F. escarmouche, skirmish. C]
- columbine a.
- Of or pertaining to a dove; dovelike; dove-colored. [L. columbinus, fr. columba dove.]
- veiled a.
- Covered by, or as by, a veil; hidden.
- arpeggio n.
- The production of the tones of a chord in rapid succession, as in playing the harp, and not simultaneously; a strain thus played. [It., fr. arpeggiare to play on the harp, fr. arpa harp.]
- saith
- 3d pers. sing. pres. of Say.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Carnival 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, Carnival, in Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29521, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/gautier-enamels-cameos/carnival.html, id L26991.
Form and metre
Carnival is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABAB ballA · brightB · carnivalA · lightB
- 2 ABAB maskA · hueB · fantasqueA · trueB
- 3 ABAB sleeveA · spreadB · semibreveA · headB
- 4 ABAB goesA · bassB · noseA · faceB
- 5 ABAB fineA · intentB · columbineA · lentB
- 6 ABAB markA · riseB · darkA · eyesB
- 7 ABAB laceA · breathB · faceA · saithB
- 8 ABAB knowA · lipsB · snowA · tripsB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Venice robes her for the ball; | 7 | /˘····· |
| Decked with spangles bright, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Multi-coloured Carnival | 7 | /˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Teems with laughter light. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Harlequin with negro mask, | 7 | /˘˘·/˘· |
| Tights of serpent hue, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Beateth with a note fantasque | 7 | /˘····· |
| His Cassander true. | 5 | ····· |
| Flapping loose his long, white sleeve, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Like a penguin spread, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Through a subtle semibreve | 7 | ··/˘/˘˘ |
| Pierrot thrusts his head. | 5 | ····· |
| Sleek Bologna's doctor goes | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘· |
| Maundering on a bass. | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| Punchinello finds for nose | 7 | ······· |
| Quaver on his face. | 5 | /˘··· |
| Hurtling Trivellino fine, | 7 | /˘····· |
| On a trill intent, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Scaramouch to Columbine | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Gives the fan she lent. | 5 | ····· |
| Gliding to the tune, I mark | 7 | /˘····· |
| One veiled figure rise, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| While through satin lashes dark | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Luring gleam her eyes. | 5 | /˘··· |
| Tender little edge of lace, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Heaving with her breath! | 5 | /˘··· |
| "Under is her own dear face!" | 7 | ······· |
| An arpeggio saith. | 5 | ·˘/˘· |
| And beneath the mask I know | 7 | ······· |
| Bloom of rosy lips, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And the patch on chin of snow, | 7 | ······· |
| As she by me trips! | 5 | ····· |
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.