A Study of Hands: Imperia
A sculptor showed to me one dayA hand, a Cleopatra's lure,Or an Aspasia's, cast in clay,Of masterwork a fragment pure.
Seized in a snowy kiss, and fairAs lily in the argent riseOf dawn, like whitest poem thereIts beauty lay before mine eyes,
Bright in its pallor lustreless,Reposing on a velvet bed,Its fingers, weighted with their dressOf jewels, delicately spread.
A little parted lay the thumb,Showing the undulating line,Beautiful, graceful, subtlesome,Of its proud contour Florentine.
Strange hand! I wonder if it toyedIn silken locks of Don Juan,Or on a gem-bright caftan joyedTo stroke the beard of some soldan;
Whether, as courtesan or queen,Within its fingers fair and slightWas pleasure's gilded sceptre seen,Or sceptre of a royal might!
But sweet and firm it must have lainFull oft its touch of power rareUpon the curling lion-maneOf some chimera caught in air.
Imperial, idle fantasy,And love of soft, luxurious things,Frenzies of passion, wondrous, free,Impossible dream-flutterings!
Romances wild, and poesyOf hasheech and of wine, vain speedsBeneath Bohemia's brilliant skyOn unrestrained and maddened steeds!
All these were in the lines of it,Of that white book with magic scrolled,Where ciphers stood, by Venus writ,That Love had trembled to behold.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
- argent n.
- Silver, or money. [F. argent, fr. L. argentum, silver; akin to Gr. rajata white, silver, raj to shine, Ir. arg white, milk, airgiod silver, money, and L. arguere to make clear. Se]
- pallor n.
- Paleness; want of color; pallidity; as, pallor of the complexion. Jer. Taylor. [L., fr. pallere to be or look pale. See Pale, a.]
- lustreless a.
- Destitute of luster; dim; dull.
- caftan n.
- A garment worn throughout the Levant, consisting of a long gown with sleeves reaching below the hands. It is generally fastened by a belt or sash. [Turk. qaftan: cf. F. cafetan.]
- courtesan n.
- A woman who prostitutes herself for hire; a prostitute; a harlot. [F. courtisane, fr. courtisan courtier, It. cortigiano; or directly fr. It. cortigiana, or Sp. cortesana. See Court.]
- sceptre n.
- A staff or baton borne by a sovereign, as a ceremonial badge or emblem of authority; a royal mace. [F. sceptre, L. sceptrum, from Gr. shaft. See Shaft, and cf. Scape a stem, shaft.]
- chimera n.
- A monster represented as vomiting flames, and as having the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a dragon. [L. chimaera a chimera (in sense 1), Gr. qymbr a yearling ewe.]
- fantasy n.
- Fancy; imagination; especially, a whimsical or fanciful conception; a vagary of the imagination; whim; caprice; humor. [See Fancy.]
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- poesy n.
- The art of composing poems; poetical skill or faculty; as, the heavenly gift of poesy. [F. poésie (cf. It. poesia), L. poesis, from Gr. Posy.]
- scrolled a.
- Formed like a scroll; contained in a scroll; adorned with scrolls; as, scrolled work.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Study of Hands: Imperia 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, A Study of Hands: Imperia, in Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29521, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/gautier-enamels-cameos/imperia.html, id L26987.
Form and metre
A Study of Hands: Imperia is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 9 of its 10 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in iambic 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 dayA · lureB · clayA · pureB
- 2 ABAB fairA · riseB · thereA · eyesB
- 3 ABAB lustrelessA · bedB · dressA · spreadB
- 5 ABAB toyedA · juanB · joyedA · soldanB
- 6 ABAB queenA · slightB · seenA · mightB
- 7 ABAB lainA · rareB · maneA · airB
- 8 ABAB fantasyA · thingsB · freeA · flutteringsB
- 9 ABAB poesyA · speedsB · skyA · steedsB
- 10 ABAB itA · scrolledB · writA · beholdB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A sculptor showed to me one day | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A hand, a Cleopatra's lure, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Or an Aspasia's, cast in clay, | 8 | ········ |
| Of masterwork a fragment pure. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Seized in a snowy kiss, and fair | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As lily in the argent rise | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Of dawn, like whitest poem there | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Its beauty lay before mine eyes, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Bright in its pallor lustreless, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Reposing on a velvet bed, | 8 | /·˘··/˘· |
| Its fingers, weighted with their dress | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Of jewels, delicately spread. | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘˘· |
| A little parted lay the thumb, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Showing the undulating line, | 8 | /˘·/˘·˘· |
| Beautiful, graceful, subtlesome, | 8 | /˘˘/˘··· |
| Of its proud contour Florentine. | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| Strange hand! I wonder if it toyed | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In silken locks of Don Juan, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Or on a gem-bright caftan joyed | 8 | ·····/·· |
| To stroke the beard of some soldan; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Whether, as courtesan or queen, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Within its fingers fair and slight | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Was pleasure's gilded sceptre seen, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Or sceptre of a royal might! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| But sweet and firm it must have lain | 8 | ········ |
| Full oft its touch of power rare | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Upon the curling lion-mane | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Of some chimera caught in air. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Imperial, idle fantasy, | 9 | ˘/˘˘/˘/˘˘ |
| And love of soft, luxurious things, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Frenzies of passion, wondrous, free, | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| Impossible dream-flutterings! | 8 | ˘/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| Romances wild, and poesy | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| Of hasheech and of wine, vain speeds | 8 | ········ |
| Beneath Bohemia's brilliant sky | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| On unrestrained and maddened steeds! | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| All these were in the lines of it, | 8 | ········ |
| Of that white book with magic scrolled, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Where ciphers stood, by Venus writ, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That Love had trembled to behold. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
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.