Vashti
They brought her message to the King;Dark flash'd his angry eye;'Twas as the lightning ere the stormHath swept in fury by.
Then bitterly outspoke the King,Through purple lips of wrath--"What shall be done to her who daresTo cross your monarch's path?"
Then spake his wily counsellors--"O King of this fair land!From distant Ind to Ethiop,All bow to thy command.
"But if, before thy servants' eyes,This thing they plainly see,That Vashti doth not heed thy willNor yield herself to thee,
"The women, restive 'neath our rule,Would learn to scorn our name,And from her deed to us would comeReproach and burning shame.
"Then, gracious King, sign with thy handThis stern but just decree,
Words in this poem
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- bitterly adv.
- In a bitter 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,]
- ethiop n.
- A native or inhabitant of Ethiopia; also, in a general sense, a negro or black man.
- restive a.
- Unwilling to go on; obstinate in refusing to move forward; stubborn; drawing back. [OF. restif, F. rétif, fr. L. restare to stay back, withstand, resist. See Rest remainder, and cf. Restiff.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Vashti is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #679; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Vashti, in Poems (1854–1871), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #679, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/harper-poems/vashti-3.html, id L10583.
Form and metre
Vashti is 22 lines in 6 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 23% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 king · eyeA · storm · byA
- 2 -A-A king · wrathA · dares · pathA
- 3 -A-A counsellors · landA · ethiop · commandA
- 4 -A-A eyes · seeA · will · theeA
- 5 -A-A rule · nameA · come · shameA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| They brought her message to the King; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Dark flash'd his angry eye; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| 'Twas as the lightning ere the storm | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Hath swept in fury by. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Then bitterly outspoke the King, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Through purple lips of wrath-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| "What shall be done to her who dares | 8 | ········ |
| To cross your monarch's path?" | 6 | ···/·· |
| Then spake his wily counsellors-- | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| "O King of this fair land! | 6 | ······ |
| From distant Ind to Ethiop, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| All bow to thy command. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| "But if, before thy servants' eyes, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| This thing they plainly see, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| That Vashti doth not heed thy will | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Nor yield herself to thee, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| "The women, restive 'neath our rule, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·/· |
| Would learn to scorn our name, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And from her deed to us would come | 8 | ········ |
| Reproach and burning shame. | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| "Then, gracious King, sign with thy hand | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| This stern but just decree, | 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.