Ballade of a Toyokuni Colour-Print
WAS I a Samurai renowned,Two-sworded, fierce, immense of bow?A histrion angular and profound?A priest? a porter?—Child, althoughI have forgotten clean, I knowThat in the shade of Fujisan,What time the cherry-orchards blow,I loved you once in old Japan.
As here you loiter, flowing-gownedAnd hugely sashed, with pins a-rowYour quaint head as with flamelets crowned,Demure, inviting—even so,When merry maids in MiyakoTo feel the sweet o’ the year began,And green gardens to overflow,I loved you once in old Japan.
Clear shine the hills; the rice-fields roundTwo cranes are circling; sleepy and slow,A blue canal the lake’s blue boundBreaks at the bamboo bridge; and lo!Touched with the sundown’s spirit and glow,I see you turn, with flirted fan,Against the plum-tree’s bloomy snow . . .I loved you once in old Japan!
Dear, ’twas a dozen lives ago;But that I was a lucky manThe Toyokuni here will show:I loved you—once—in old Japan.
Words in this poem
- quaint a.
- Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. [OE. queint, queynte, coint, prudent, wise, cunning, pretty, odd, OF. cointe cultivated, amiable, agreeable, neat, fr. L. cognitus known, p. p. of cognoscere to ]
- demure v. i.
- To look demurely.
- inviting a.
- Alluring; tempting; as, an inviting amusement or prospect.
- sundown n.
- The setting of the sun; sunset.
- bloomy a.
- Full of bloom; flowery; flourishing with the vigor of youth; as, a bloomy spray.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ballade of a Toyokuni Colour-Print 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, Ballade of a Toyokuni Colour-Print, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/to-w-a.html, id L20699.
Form and metre
Ballade of a Toyokuni Colour-Print is 28 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABABBCBC, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABABB-B- renownedA · bowB · profoundA · althoughB · knowB · fujisan · blowB · japan
- 2 ABABBCBC gownedA · rowB · crownedA · soB · miyakoB · beganC · overflowB · japanC
- 3 ABABBCBC roundA · slowB · boundA · loB · glowB · fanC · snowB · japanC
- 4 ABAB agoA · manB · showA · japanB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| WAS I a Samurai renowned, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Two-sworded, fierce, immense of bow? | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| A histrion angular and profound? | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| A priest? a porter?—Child, although | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I have forgotten clean, I know | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| That in the shade of Fujisan, | 8 | ········ |
| What time the cherry-orchards blow, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| I loved you once in old Japan. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| As here you loiter, flowing-gowned | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And hugely sashed, with pins a-row | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Your quaint head as with flamelets crowned, | 9 | ········· |
| Demure, inviting—even so, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| When merry maids in Miyako | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| To feel the sweet o’ the year began, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| And green gardens to overflow, | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| I loved you once in old Japan. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Clear shine the hills; the rice-fields round | 8 | ········ |
| Two cranes are circling; sleepy and slow, | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| A blue canal the lake’s blue bound | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Breaks at the bamboo bridge; and lo! | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| Touched with the sundown’s spirit and glow, | 8 | ···/·/·· |
| I see you turn, with flirted fan, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Against the plum-tree’s bloomy snow . . . | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I loved you once in old Japan! | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Dear, ’twas a dozen lives ago; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| But that I was a lucky man | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The Toyokuni here will show: | 7 | ······· |
| I loved you—once—in old Japan. | 8 | ······˘/ |
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