Out of the poisonous East
OUT of the poisonous East,Over a continent of blight,Like a maleficent Influence releasedFrom the most squalid cellarage of hell,The Wind-Fiend, the abominable—The Hangman Wind that tortures temper and light—Comes slouching, sullen and obscene,Hard on the skirts of the embittered night;And in a cloud uncleanOf excremental humours, roused to strifeBy the operation of some ruinous change,Wherever his evil mandate run and range,Into a dire intensity of life,A craftsman at his bench, he settles downTo the grim job of throttling London Town.
So, by a jealous lightlessness besetThat might have oppressed the dragons of old timeCrunching and groping in the abysmal slime,A cave of cut-throat thoughts and villainous dreams,Hag-rid and crying with cold and dirt and wet,The afflicted City, prone from mark to markIn shameful occultation, seemsA nightmare labyrinthine, dim and drifting,With wavering gulfs and antic heights, and shifting,Rent in the stuff of a material dark,Wherein the lamplight, scattered and sick and pale,Shows like the leper’s living blotch of bale:Uncoiling monstrous into street on streetPaven with perils, teeming with mischance,Where man and beast go blindfold and in dread,Working with oaths and threats and faltering feetSomewhither in the hideousness ahead;Working through wicked airs and deadly dewsThat make the laden robber grin askanceAt the good places in his black romance,And the poor, loitering harlot rather chooseGo pinched and pined to bedThan lurk and shiver and curse her wretched wayFrom arch to arch, scouting some threepenny prey.
Forgot his dawns and far-flushed afterglows,His green garlands and windy eyots forgot,The old Father-River flows,His watchfires cores of menace in the gloom,As he came oozing from the Pit, and bore,Sunk in his filthily transfigured sides,Shoals of dishonoured dead to tumble and rotIn the squalor of the universal shore:His voices sounding through the gruesome airAs from the Ferry where the Boat of DoomWith her blaspheming cargo reels and rides:The while his children, the brave ships,No more adventurous and fair,Nor tripping it light of heel as home-bound brides,But infamously enchanted,Huddle together in the foul eclipse,Or feel their course by inches desperately,As through a tangle of alleys murder-haunted,From sinister reach to reach out—out—to sea.
And Death the while—Death with his well-worn, lean, professional smile,Death in his threadbare working trim—Comes to your bedside, unannounced and bland,And with expert, inevitable handFeels at your windpipe, fingers you in the lung,Or flicks the clot well into the labouring heart:Thus signifying unto old and young,However hard of mouth or wild of whim,’Tis time—’tis time by his ancient watch—to partFrom books and women and talk and drink and art.And you go humbly after himTo a mean suburban lodging: on the wayTo what or whereNot Death, who is old and very wise, can say:And you—how should you careSo long as, unreclaimed of hell,The Wind-Fiend, the insufferable,Thus vicious and thus patient, sits him downTo the black job of burking London Town?
Words in this poem 37
- continent a.
- Serving to restrain or limit; restraining; opposing. [L. continens, -entis, prop., p. pr. of continere to hold together, to repress: cf. F. continent. See Contain.]
- maleficent a.
- Doing evil to others; harmful; mischievous. [See Malefic.]
- squalid a.
- Dirty through neglect; foul; filthy; extremely dirty. [L. squalidus, fr. squalere to be foul or filthy.]
- cellarage n.
- The space or storerooms of a cellar; a cellar.
- slouching a.
- Hanging down at the side; limp; drooping; without firmness or shapeliness; moving in an ungainly manner.
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- excremental a.
- Of or pertaining to excrement.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- dire a.
- Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
- craftsman n.
- One skilled in some trade or manual occupation; an artificer; a mechanic.
- abysmal a.
- Pertaining to, or resembling, an abyss; bottomless; unending; profound.
- labyrinthine a.
- Pertaining to, or like, a labyrinth; labyrinthal.
- antic v. t.
- To make appear like a buffoon.
- lamplight n.
- Light from a lamp.
- blotch n.
- A blot or spot, as of color or of ink; especially a large or irregular spot. Also Fig.; as, a moral blotch. [Cf. OE. blacche in blacchepot blacking pot, akin to black, as bleach is akin to bleak. See Black, a., or cf. Blot a spot.]
- teeming a.
- Prolific; productive.
- blindfold v. t.
- To cover the eyes of, as with a bandage; to hinder from seeing. [OE. blindfolden, blindfelden, blindfellen; AS. blind blind + prob. fellan, fyllan, to fell, strike down.]
- faltering a.
- Hesitating; trembling.
- somewhither adv.
- To some indeterminate place; to some place or other.
- ahead adv.
- In or to the front; in advance; onward. [Pref. a- + head.]
- grin n.
- A snare; a gin. [AS. grin.]
- askance adv.
- Sideways; obliquely; with a side glance; with disdain, envy, or suspicion. [Cf. D. schuin, schuins, sideways, schuiven to shove, schuinte slope. Cf. Asquint.]
- threepenny a.
- Costing or worth three pence; hence, worth but little; poor; mean.
- filthily adv.
- In a filthy manner; foully.
- squalor n.
- Squalidness; foulness; filthness; squalidity. [L., fr. squalere to be foul or filthy.]
- gruesome
- , Grue"some, a. Etym: [From a word akin to Dan. gru horror, terror + -some; cf. D. gruwzaam, G. grausam. Cf. Grisly.]
- infamously adv.
- In an infamous manner or degree; scandalously; disgracefully; shamefully.
- enchanted a.
- Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
- huddle v. i.
- To press together promiscuously, from confusion, apprehension, or the like; to crowd together confusedly; to press or hurry in disorder; to crowd. [Cf. OE. hoderen, hodren, to cover, keep, warm; perh. akin to OE. huden, hiden, to hide, E. hide, and orig. meaning, to get together for protection in a safe pla]
- desperately adv.
- In a desperate manner; without regard to danger or safety; recklessly; extremely; as, the troops fought desperately.
- tangle v. t.
- To unite or knit together confusedly; to interweave or interlock, as threads, so as to make it difficult to unravel the knot; to entangle; to ravel. [A frequentative fr. tang seaweed; hence, to twist like seaweed. See Tang seaweed, and cf. Tangle, n.]
- threadbare a.
- Worn to the naked thread; having the nap worn off; threadbare clothes.
- bedside n.
- The side of a bed.
- labouring a.
- That labors; performing labor; esp., performing coarse, heavy work, not requiring skill also, set apart for labor; as, laboring days.
- humbly adv.
- With humility; lowly.
- suburban a.
- Of or pertaining to suburbs; inhabiting, or being in, the suburbs of a city. [L. suburbanus.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Out of the poisonous East 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, Out of the poisonous East, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/out-of-the-poisonous-east.html, id L12434.
Form and metre
Out of the poisonous East is 78 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.6 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 32% 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 ABACCBDBDEFFEGG eastA · blightB · releasedA · hellC · abominableC · lightB · obsceneD · nightB · uncleanD · strifeE · changeF · rangeF · lifeE · downG · townG
- 2 ABBCADCEEDFFG-HGHIJJIHKK besetA · timeB · slimeB · dreamsC · wetA · markD · seemsC · driftingE · shiftingE · darkD · paleF · baleF · streetG · mischance · dreadH · feetG · aheadH · dewsI · askanceJ · romanceJ · chooseI · bedH · wayK · preyK
- 3 ABACDEBDFCEGFE-G--- afterglowsA · forgotB · flowsA · gloomC · boreD · sidesE · rotB · shoreD · airF · doomC · ridesE · shipsG · fairF · bridesE · enchanted · eclipseG · desperately · haunted · sea
- 4 AABCCDEDBEEBFGFGHHII whileA · smileA · trimB · blandC · handC · lungD · heartE · youngD · whimB · partE · artE · himB · wayF · whereG · sayF · careG · hellH · insufferableH · downI · townI
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 |
|---|---|---|
| OUT of the poisonous East, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| Over a continent of blight, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Like a maleficent Influence released | 10 | ··˘/˘˘/˘˘/ |
| From the most squalid cellarage of hell, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| The Wind-Fiend, the abominable— | 9 | ····˘/˘˘˘ |
| The Hangman Wind that tortures temper and light— | 11 | ·/˘··/˘/˘·· |
| Comes slouching, sullen and obscene, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Hard on the skirts of the embittered night; | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| And in a cloud unclean | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Of excremental humours, roused to strife | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| By the operation of some ruinous change, | 11 | ···˘/˘··/˘· |
| Wherever his evil mandate run and range, | 10 | ˘/˘·//···· |
| Into a dire intensity of life, | 9 | ····˘/˘·· |
| A craftsman at his bench, he settles down | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| To the grim job of throttling London Town. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| So, by a jealous lightlessness beset | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| That might have oppressed the dragons of old time | 11 | ···˘/·/˘··· |
| Crunching and groping in the abysmal slime, | 11 | /˘·/˘··˘/˘· |
| A cave of cut-throat thoughts and villainous dreams, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Hag-rid and crying with cold and dirt and wet, | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| The afflicted City, prone from mark to mark | 11 | ·˘/˘/˘····· |
| In shameful occultation, seems | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A nightmare labyrinthine, dim and drifting, | 11 | ·/··˘/···/˘ |
| With wavering gulfs and antic heights, and shifting, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| Rent in the stuff of a material dark, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Wherein the lamplight, scattered and sick and pale, | 11 | ···/˘/˘···· |
| Shows like the leper’s living blotch of bale: | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Uncoiling monstrous into street on street | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Paven with perils, teeming with mischance, | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Where man and beast go blindfold and in dread, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Working with oaths and threats and faltering feet | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Somewhither in the hideousness ahead; | 9 | /˘·····˘/ |
| Working through wicked airs and deadly dews | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| That make the laden robber grin askance | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| At the good places in his black romance, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And the poor, loitering harlot rather choose | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Go pinched and pined to bed | 8 | ··˘··˘·· |
| Than lurk and shiver and curse her wretched way | 11 | ···/˘···/˘· |
| From arch to arch, scouting some threepenny prey. | 11 | ····/˘·/˘˘· |
| Forgot his dawns and far-flushed afterglows, | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| His green garlands and windy eyots forgot, | 10 | ··/˘·/˘·˘/ |
| The old Father-River flows, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| His watchfires cores of menace in the gloom, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| As he came oozing from the Pit, and bore, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Sunk in his filthily transfigured sides, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Shoals of dishonoured dead to tumble and rot | 11 | ··˘/˘··/˘·· |
| In the squalor of the universal shore: | 11 | ··/˘···˘/˘· |
| His voices sounding through the gruesome air | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| As from the Ferry where the Boat of Doom | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| With her blaspheming cargo reels and rides: | 10 | ·····/···· |
| The while his children, the brave ships, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| No more adventurous and fair, | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| Nor tripping it light of heel as home-bound brides, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| But infamously enchanted, | 8 | ·/˘˘˘˘/˘ |
| Huddle together in the foul eclipse, | 10 | /˘˘/˘···˘/ |
| Or feel their course by inches desperately, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| As through a tangle of alleys murder-haunted, | 12 | ···/˘·/˘/˘/˘ |
| From sinister reach to reach out—out—to sea. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And Death the while— | 4 | ···· |
| Death with his well-worn, lean, professional smile, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Death in his threadbare working trim— | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| Comes to your bedside, unannounced and bland, | 10 | ···/··˘/·· |
| And with expert, inevitable hand | 8 | ··/˘˘/˘· |
| Feels at your windpipe, fingers you in the lung, | 11 | ···/˘/˘···· |
| Or flicks the clot well into the labouring heart: | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Thus signifying unto old and young, | 10 | ·/˘·˘····· |
| However hard of mouth or wild of whim, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| ’Tis time—’tis time by his ancient watch—to part | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| From books and women and talk and drink and art. | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| And you go humbly after him | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To a mean suburban lodging: on the way | 11 | ···˘/˘/˘··· |
| To what or where | 4 | ···· |
| Not Death, who is old and very wise, can say: | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| And you—how should you care | 6 | ······ |
| So long as, unreclaimed of hell, | 8 | ········ |
| The Wind-Fiend, the insufferable, | 9 | ····˘/˘˘˘ |
| Thus vicious and thus patient, sits him down | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| To the black job of burking London Town? | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
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