Laurel · Théophile Gautier · Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems

The Obelisk in Luxor

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

trochaic tetrameter · ABAB · 72 lines · from Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems

Where the wasted columns brood,Lonely sentinel stand I,In eternal solitudeFacing all infinity.

Dumb, with beauty unendowed,To the horizon limitlessSpreads earth's desert like a shroudStained by yellow suns that press.

While above it, blue and clean,Is another desert cast--Sky where cloud is never seen,Pure, implacable, and vast.

And the Nile's great water-courseGlazed with leaden pellicleWrinkled by the river-horseGleameth dead, unlustreful.

All about the flaming isles,By a turbid water spanned,Hot, rapacious crocodilesSwoon and sob upon the sand.

Perching motionless, alone,Ibis, bird of classic fame,From a carven slab of stoneReads the moon-god's sacred name.

Jackals howl, hyenas grin,Famished hawks descend and cry.Down the heavy air they spin,Commas black against the sky.

These the sounds of solitude,Where the sphinxes yawn and doze,Dull and passionless of mood,Weary of their endless pose.

Child of sand's reflected shine,And of sun-rays fiercely bent,Is there ennui like to thine,Spleen of luminous Orient?

Thou it was cried "Halt!" of yoreTo satiety of kings.Thou hast crushed me more and moreWith thine awful weight of wings.

Here no zephyr of the seaWipes the tears from skies that fill.Time himself leans wearilyOn the palaces long still.

Naught shall touch the features terseOf this dull, eternal spot.In this changing universe,Only Egypt changeth not!

When the ennui never ends,And I yearn a friend to hold,I've the fellahs, mummies, friends,Of the dynasties of old.

I behold a pillar pale,Or a chipped Colossus note,Watch a distant, gleaming sailUp and down the Nile afloat.

Oh, to seek my brother's side,In a Paris wondrous, grand,With his stately form to bide,In the public place to stand!

For he looks on living men,And they scan his pictures wroughtBy an hieratic pen,To be read by vision-thought.

Fountains fair as amethystOn his granite lightly pourAll their irisated mist.He is growing young once more.

Ah! yet he and I had birthFrom Syene's veins of red.But I keep my spot of earth.He is living. I am dead.

Words in this poem 22

limitless a.: Having no limits; unbounded; boundless. Davies (Wit's Pilgr.).
pellicle n.: A thin skin or film. [L. pellicu, dim. of pellis skin: cf. F. pellicule.]
classic a.: Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art. [L. classicus relating to the classes of the Roman people, and especially to the frist class; hence, of the first rank, superior, from classis class: cf. F. clas]
carven a.: Wrought by carving; ornamented by carvings; carved.
grin n.: A snare; a gin. [AS. grin.]
passionless a.: Void of passion; without anger or emotion; not easily excited; calm.
ennui n.: A feeling of weariness and disgust; dullness and languor of spirits, arising from satiety or want of interest; tedium. T. Gray. [F., fr. L. in odio in hatred. See Annoy.]
yore adv.: In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
hast: , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
zephyr n.: The west wind; poetically, any soft, gentle breeze. [L. zephyrus, Gr. zéphyr.]
wearily adv.: In a weary 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,]
terse a.: Appearing as if rubbed or wiped off; rubbed; smooth; polished. [L. tersus, p.p. of tergere to rub or wipe off.]
yearn v. t.: To pain; to grieve; to vex. [Also earn, ern; probably a corruption of OE. ermen to grieve, AS. ierman, yrman, or geierman, geyrman, fr. earm wretched, poor; akin to D. & G. arm, Icel. armr,]
colossus n.: A statue of gigantic size. The name was especially applied to certain famous statues in antiquity, as the Colossus of Nero in Rome, the Colossus of Apollo at Rhodes.
afloat adv.: Borne on the water; floating; on board ship. [Pref. a- + float.]
wondrous adv.: In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
bide v. i.: To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
scan v. t.: To mount by steps; to go through with step by step. [L. scandere, scansum, to climb, to scan, akin to Skr. skand to spring, leap: cf. F. scander. Cf. Ascend, Descend, Scale a ladder.]
hieratic a.: Consecrated to sacred uses; sacerdotal; pertaining to priests. [L. hieraticus, Gr. hiératique.]
amethyst: A variety of crystallized quartz, of a purple or bluish violet color, of different shades. It is much used as a jeweler's stone. [F. ametiste, amatiste, F. améthyste, L. amethystus, fr. Gr. Mead.]
irisated a.: Exhibiting the prismatic colors; irised; iridescent. W. [See Iris.]

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

About this text

The Obelisk in Luxor 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, The Obelisk in Luxor, in Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29521, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/gautier-enamels-cameos/the-obelisk-in-luxor.html, id L27001.

Form and metre

The Obelisk in Luxor is 72 lines in 18 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 17 of its 18 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).

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 A-A- brood^A · i · solitude^A · infinity
2 ABAB unendowed^A · limitless^B · shroud^A · press^B
3 ABAB clean^A · cast^B · seen^A · vast^B
4 ABAB course^A · pellicle^B · horse^A · unlustreful^B
5 ABAB isles^A · spanned^B · crocodiles^A · sand^B
6 ABAB alone^A · fame^B · stone^A · name^B
7 ABAB grin^A · cry^B · spin^A · sky^B
8 ABAB solitude^A · doze^B · mood^A · pose^B
9 ABAB shine^A · bent^B · thine^A · orient^B
10 ABAB yore^A · kings^B · more^A · wings^B
11 ABAB sea^A · fill^B · wearily^A · still^B
12 ABAB terse^A · spot^B · universe^A · not^B
13 ABAB ends^A · hold^B · friends^A · old^B
14 ABAB pale^A · note^B · sail^A · afloat^B
15 ABAB side^A · grand^B · bide^A · stand^B
16 ABAB men^A · wrought^B · pen^A · thought^B
17 ABAB amethyst^A · pour^B · mist^A · more^B
18 ABAB birth^A · red^B · earth^A · dead^B

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
Where the wasted columns brood,	7	··/˘/˘·
Lonely sentinel stand I,	7	/˘/˘˘··
In eternal solitude	7	·˘/˘/˘·
Facing all infinity.	7	/˘·˘/˘˘
Dumb, with beauty unendowed,	8	··/˘···˘
To the horizon limitless	8	··˘/˘/˘˘
Spreads earth's desert like a shroud	7	··/˘···
Stained by yellow suns that press.	8	·˘·/˘···
While above it, blue and clean,	7	·······
Is another desert cast--	7	·˘/˘/˘·
Sky where cloud is never seen,	7	····/˘·
Pure, implacable, and vast.	7	·˘/˘˘··
And the Nile's great water-course	7	····/˘·
Glazed with leaden pellicle	8	·˘·/˘/˘˘
Wrinkled by the river-horse	8	/˘˘··/˘·
Gleameth dead, unlustreful.	7	/˘·····
All about the flaming isles,	7	····/˘·
By a turbid water spanned,	8	··/˘/˘·˘
Hot, rapacious crocodiles	7	·˘/˘/˘·
Swoon and sob upon the sand.	7	·······
Perching motionless, alone,	7	/˘/˘˘˘/
Ibis, bird of classic fame,	7	/˘··/˘·
From a carven slab of stone	7	··/˘···
Reads the moon-god's sacred name.	8	····/˘˘·
Jackals howl, hyenas grin,	7	/˘·˘/˘·
Famished hawks descend and cry.	8	··˘·˘/··
Down the heavy air they spin,	7	··/˘···
Commas black against the sky.	7	/˘·····
These the sounds of solitude,	7	····/˘·
Where the sphinxes yawn and doze,	7	··/˘···
Dull and passionless of mood,	7	··/˘˘··
Weary of their endless pose.	7	/˘··/˘·
Child of sand's reflected shine,	7	···˘/˘·
And of sun-rays fiercely bent,	7	····/˘·
Is there ennui like to thine,	8	··˘/˘···
Spleen of luminous Orient?	8	··/˘˘/˘·
Thou it was cried "Halt!" of yore	7	·······
To satiety of kings.	7	·˘/˘˘··
Thou hast crushed me more and more	8	···˘····
With thine awful weight of wings.	7	··/˘···
Here no zephyr of the sea	7	··/˘···
Wipes the tears from skies that fill.	7	·······
Time himself leans wearily	7	·˘/·/˘˘
On the palaces long still.	7	··/˘˘··
Naught shall touch the features terse	7	····/˘·
Of this dull, eternal spot.	7	···˘/˘·
In this changing universe,	7	··/˘/˘·
Only Egypt changeth not!	7	/˘/˘/˘·
When the ennui never ends,	8	··˘/˘/˘·
And I yearn a friend to hold,	7	·······
I've the fellahs, mummies, friends,	7	····/˘·
Of the dynasties of old.	7	··/˘˘··
I behold a pillar pale,	7	·˘/·/˘·
Or a chipped Colossus note,	8	···˘˘/˘·
Watch a distant, gleaming sail	7	··/˘/˘·
Up and down the Nile afloat.	7	·····˘/
Oh, to seek my brother's side,	7	····/˘·
In a Paris wondrous, grand,	7	··/˘/˘·
With his stately form to bide,	7	··/˘···
In the public place to stand!	7	··/˘···
For he looks on living men,	7	····/˘·
And they scan his pictures wrought	7	····/˘·
By an hieratic pen,	6	······
To be read by vision-thought.	7	····/˘·
Fountains fair as amethyst	7	/˘··/˘˘
On his granite lightly pour	7	··/˘/˘·
All their irisated mist.	6	··/˘˘·
He is growing young once more.	7	··/˘···
Ah! yet he and I had birth	7	·······
From Syene's veins of red.	5	·····
But I keep my spot of earth.	7	·······
He is living. I am dead.	7	··/˘···

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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