Orientale
SHE’S an enchanting little Israelite,A world of hidden dimples!—Dusky-eyed,A starry-glancing daughter of the Bride,With hair escaped from some Arabian Night,Her lip is red, her cheek is golden-white,Her nose a scimitar; and, set asideThe bamboo hat she cocks with so much pride,Her dress a dream of daintiness and delight.And when she passes with the dreadful boysAnd romping girls, the cockneys loud and crude,My thought, to the Minories tied yet moved to rangeThe Land o’ the Sun, commingles with the noiseOf magian drums and scents of sandalwoodA touch Sidonian—modern—taking—strange!
Words in this poem
- israelite n.
- A descendant of Israel, or Jacob; a Hebrew; a Jew. [L. Israëlites, Gr. Yisra, i. e., champion of God; sarah to fight + God.]
- glancing a.
- Shooting, as light.
- scimitar n.
- A saber with a much curved blade having the edge on the convex side, -- in use among Mohammedans, esp., the Arabs and persians. [F. cimeterre, cf. It. scimitarra, Sp. cimitarra; fr. Biscayan cimetarry with a sharp edge; or corrupted from Per. shimshir.]
- daintiness n.
- The quality of being dainty; nicety; niceness; elegance; delicacy; deliciousness; fastidiousness; squeamishness.
- dreadful a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- romping a.
- Inclined to romp; indulging in romps.
- magian a.
- Of or pertaining to the Magi.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Orientale is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1568; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: W. E. Henley, Orientale, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/orientale.html, id L12370.
Form and metre
Orientale is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBAABBAC-DC-D israeliteA · eyedB · brideB · nightA · whiteA · asideB · prideB · delightA · boysC · crude · rangeD · noiseC · sandalwood · strangeD
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 iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| SHE’S an enchanting little Israelite, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| A world of hidden dimples!—Dusky-eyed, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| A starry-glancing daughter of the Bride, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| With hair escaped from some Arabian Night, | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Her lip is red, her cheek is golden-white, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Her nose a scimitar; and, set aside | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The bamboo hat she cocks with so much pride, | 10 | ·˘/······· |
| Her dress a dream of daintiness and delight. | 11 | ·····/˘˘·˘/ |
| And when she passes with the dreadful boys | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And romping girls, the cockneys loud and crude, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| My thought, to the Minories tied yet moved to range | 11 | ··········· |
| The Land o’ the Sun, commingles with the noise | 11 | ·····˘/˘··· |
| Of magian drums and scents of sandalwood | 11 | ·/˘˘····/˘˘ |
| A touch Sidonian—modern—taking—strange! | 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.