Hermonax
Gods of the sea;Ino,leaving warm meadsfor the green, grey-green fastnessesof the great deeps;and Palemon,bright seeker of sea-shaft,hear me.
Let all whom the sea loves,come to its altar front,and Iwho can offer no other sacrifice to theebring this.
Broken by great waves,the wavelets flung it here,this sea-gliding creature,this strange creature like a weed,covered with salt foam,torn from the hillocks of rock.
I, Hermonax,caster of nets,risking chance,plying the sea craft,came on it.
Thus to sea god,gift of sea wrack;I, Hermonax, offer itto thee, Ino,and to Palemon.
Words in this poem
- craft n.
- Strength; might; secret power. [AS. cr strength, skill, art, cunning; akin to OS., G., Sw., & Dan. kraft strength, D. kracht, Icel. kraptr; perh. originally, a drawing together, stretching, fr]
- wrack n.
- Wreck; ruin; destruction. [OE. wrak wreck. See Wreck.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hermonax is in the public domain. This text is taken from Heliodora, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #62456; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: H.D., Hermonax, in Heliodora, and Other Poems (1924), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #62456, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hd-heliodora/hermonax.html, id L24321.
Form and metre
Hermonax is 29 lines in 5 stanzas. The metre is trochaic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%).
See other poems in trochaic dimeter.
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 seaA · ino · meads · fastnesses · deeps · palemon · shaft · meA
- 2 --AA- loves · front · iA · theeA · this
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Gods of the sea; | 4 | ···· |
| Ino, | 2 | ·· |
| leaving warm meads | 4 | /˘·· |
| for the green, grey-green fastnesses | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| of the great deeps; | 4 | ···· |
| and Palemon, | 4 | ···· |
| bright seeker of sea-shaft, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| hear me. | 2 | ·· |
| Let all whom the sea loves, | 6 | ······ |
| come to its altar front, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| and I | 2 | ·· |
| who can offer no other sacrifice to thee | 12 | ··/˘·/˘/˘··· |
| bring this. | 2 | ·· |
| Broken by great waves, | 5 | /˘··· |
| the wavelets flung it here, | 7 | ······· |
| this sea-gliding creature, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| this strange creature like a weed, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| covered with salt foam, | 5 | /˘··· |
| torn from the hillocks of rock. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| I, Hermonax, | 4 | ···· |
| caster of nets, | 4 | /˘·· |
| risking chance, | 3 | /˘· |
| plying the sea craft, | 5 | /˘··· |
| came on it. | 3 | ··· |
| Thus to sea god, | 4 | ···· |
| gift of sea wrack; | 4 | ···· |
| I, Hermonax, offer it | 7 | ····/˘· |
| to thee, Ino, | 4 | ···· |
| and to Palemon. | 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.