Vashti. 45
Grows poor and pale when she appears,My beautiful, my own!"
All waiting stood the chamberlainsTo hear the Queen's reply.They saw her cheek grow deathly pale,But light flash'd to her eye:
"Go, tell the King," she proudly said,"That I am Persia's Queen,And by his crowds of merry menI never will be seen.
"I'll take the crown from off my headAnd tread it 'neath my feet,Before their rude and careless gazeMy shrinking eyes shall meet.
"A queen unveil'd before the crowd!--Upon each lip my name!--Why, Persia's women all would blushAnd weep for Vashti's shame!
"Go back!" she cried, and waved her hand,And grief was in her eye:"Go, tell the King," she sadly said,"That I would rather die."
Words in this poem
- deathly a.
- Deadly; fatal; mortal; destructive.
- 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,]
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Vashti. 45 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. 45, in Poems (1854–1871), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #679, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/harper-poems/vashti-45.html, id L10582.
Form and metre
Vashti. 45 is 22 lines in 6 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 98% 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.
- 2 -A-A chamberlains · replyA · pale · eyeA
- 3 -A-A said · queenA · men · seenA
- 4 -A-A head · feetA · gaze · meetA
- 5 -A-A crowd · nameA · blush · shameA
- 6 -A-A hand · eyeA · said · dieA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Grows poor and pale when she appears, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| My beautiful, my own!" | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| All waiting stood the chamberlains | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| To hear the Queen's reply. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| They saw her cheek grow deathly pale, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But light flash'd to her eye: | 6 | ······ |
| "Go, tell the King," she proudly said, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| "That I am Persia's Queen, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And by his crowds of merry men | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I never will be seen. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| "I'll take the crown from off my head | 8 | ········ |
| And tread it 'neath my feet, | 6 | ······ |
| Before their rude and careless gaze | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My shrinking eyes shall meet. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| "A queen unveil'd before the crowd!-- | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Upon each lip my name!-- | 6 | ······ |
| Why, Persia's women all would blush | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And weep for Vashti's shame! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| "Go back!" she cried, and waved her hand, | 8 | ········ |
| And grief was in her eye: | 6 | ······ |
| "Go, tell the King," she sadly said, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| "That I would rather die." | 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.