Lais
Let her who walks in Paphostake the glass,let Paphos take the mirrorand the work of frosted fruit,gold apples setwith silver apple-leaf,white leaf of silverwrought with vein of gilt.
Let Paphos take the mirror;did she pressflowerlet of flame-flowerto the lustrous whiteof the white forehead?did the dark veins beata deeper purplethan the wine-deep tintof the dark flower?
Did she deck black hairone evening, with the winter-whiteflower of the winter-berry,did she look (reft of her lover)at a face gone whiteunder the chapletof white virgin-breath?
Lais, exultant, tyrannizing Greece,Lais who kept her lovers in the porch,lover on lover waiting,(but to creepwhere the robe brushed the thresholdwhere still sleeps Lais,)so she creeps, Lais,to lay her mirror at the feetof her who reigns in Paphos.
Lais has left her mirrorfor she sees no longer in its depththe Lais’ selfthat laughed exultanttyrannizing Greece.
Lais has left her mirror,for she weeps no longer,finding in its depth,a face, but otherthan dark flame and whitefeature of perfect marble.
Lais has left her mirror,(so one wrote)to her who reigns in Paphos;Lais who laughed a tyrant over Greece,Lais who turned the lovers from the porch,that swarm for whom nowLais has no use;Lais is now no lover of the glass,seeing no more the face as once it was,wishing to see that face and finding this.
Words in this poem
- frosted a.
- Covered with hoarfrost or anything resembling hoarfrost; ornamented with frosting; also, frost-bitten; as, a frosted cake; frosted glass.
- reft n.
- A chink; a rift. See Rift. Rom. of R.
- chaplet n.
- A garland or wreath to be worn on the head. [F. chapelet, dim. of OF. chapel hat, garland, dim. fr. LL. cappa. See Cap, and cf. Chapelet, Chapeau.]
- exultant a.
- Inclined to exult; characterized by, or expressing, exultation; rejoicing triumphantly. [L. exsultans, exsultantis, p. pr. of exsultare. See Exult.]
- wrote v. i.
- To root with the snout. See 1st Root. [OE. wroten. See 1st Root.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lais 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., Lais, in Heliodora, and Other Poems (1924), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #62456, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hd-heliodora/lais.html, id L24297.
Form and metre
Lais is 54 lines in 7 stanzas. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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 mirror · press · flowerA · white · forehead · beat · purple · tint · flowerA
- 3 -A--A-- hair · whiteA · berry · lover · whiteA · chaplet · breath
- 4 -----AA-- greece · porch · waiting · creep · threshold · laisA · laisA · feet · paphos
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Let her who walks in Paphos | 7 | ······· |
| take the glass, | 3 | ··· |
| let Paphos take the mirror | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| and the work of frosted fruit, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| gold apples set | 4 | ·/˘· |
| with silver apple-leaf, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| white leaf of silver | 5 | ···/˘ |
| wrought with vein of gilt. | 5 | ····· |
| Let Paphos take the mirror; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| did she press | 3 | ··· |
| flowerlet of flame-flower | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| to the lustrous white | 5 | ··/˘· |
| of the white forehead? | 5 | ···/˘ |
| did the dark veins beat | 5 | ····· |
| a deeper purple | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| than the wine-deep tint | 5 | ····· |
| of the dark flower? | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Did she deck black hair | 5 | ····· |
| one evening, with the winter-white | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| flower of the winter-berry, | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| did she look (reft of her lover) | 8 | ······/˘ |
| at a face gone white | 5 | ····· |
| under the chaplet | 5 | ···/˘ |
| of white virgin-breath? | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Lais, exultant, tyrannizing Greece, | 9 | ·˘/˘····· |
| Lais who kept her lovers in the porch, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| lover on lover waiting, | 7 | /˘·/˘/˘ |
| (but to creep | 3 | ··· |
| where the robe brushed the threshold | 7 | ·····/· |
| where still sleeps Lais,) | 4 | ···· |
| so she creeps, Lais, | 4 | ···· |
| to lay her mirror at the feet | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| of her who reigns in Paphos. | 7 | ······· |
| Lais has left her mirror | 6 | ····/˘ |
| for she sees no longer in its depth | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| the Lais’ self | 3 | ··· |
| that laughed exultant | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| tyrannizing Greece. | 5 | ····· |
| Lais has left her mirror, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| for she weeps no longer, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| finding in its depth, | 5 | /˘··· |
| a face, but other | 5 | ···/˘ |
| than dark flame and white | 5 | ····· |
| feature of perfect marble. | 7 | /˘·˘//˘ |
| Lais has left her mirror, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| (so one wrote) | 3 | ··· |
| to her who reigns in Paphos; | 7 | ······· |
| Lais who laughed a tyrant over Greece, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Lais who turned the lovers from the porch, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| that swarm for whom now | 5 | ····· |
| Lais has no use; | 4 | ···· |
| Lais is now no lover of the glass, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| seeing no more the face as once it was, | 10 | /˘········ |
| wishing to see that face and finding this. | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
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.