Professor Blue-Nose
TELL me, O Provincial! speak, Ceruleo-Nasal!Lives there one De Sauty extant now among you,Whispering Boanerges, son of silent thunder,Holding talk with nations?
Is there a De Sauty ambulant on Tellus,Bifid-cleft like mortals, dormient in nightcap,Having sight, smell, hearing, food-receiving featureThree times daily patent?
Breathes there such a being, O Ceruleo-Nasal?Or is he a mythus,--ancient word for "humbug"--Such as Livy told about the wolf that wet-nursedRomulus and Remus?
Was he born of woman, this alleged De Sauty?Or a living product of galvanic action,Like the acarus bred in Crosse's flint-solution?Speak, thou Cyano-Rhinal!
Many things thou askest, jackknife-bearing stranger,Much-conjecturing mortal, pork-and-treacle-waster!Pretermit thy whittling, wheel thine ear-flap toward me,Thou shall hear them answered.
When the charge galvanic tingled through the cable,At the polar focus of the wire electricSuddenly appeared a white-faced man among usCalled himself "DE SAUTY."
As the small opossum held in pouch maternalGrasps the nutrient organ whence the term mammalia,So the unknown stranger held the wire electric,Sucking in the current.
When the current strengthened, bloomed the pale-faced stranger,--Took no drink nor victual, yet grew fat and rosy,--And from time to time, in sharp articulation,Said, "All right! DE SAUTY."
From the lonely station passed the utterance, spreadingThrough the pines and hemlocks to the groves of steeples,Till the land was filled with loud reverberationsOf "All right DE SAUTY."
When the current slackened, drooped the mystic stranger,--Faded, faded, faded, as the stream grew weaker,--Wasted to a shadow, with a hartshorn odorOf disintegration.
Drops of deliquescence glistened on his forehead,Whitened round his feet the dust of efflorescence,Till one Monday morning, when the flow suspended,There was no De Sauty.
Nothing but a cloud of elements organic,C. O. H. N. Ferrum, Chlor. Flu. Sil. Potassa,Cale. Sod. Phosph. Mag. Sulphur, Mang. (?)Alumin. (?) Cuprum, (?)Such as man is made of.
Born of stream galvanic, with it he had perished!There is no De Sauty now there is no current!Give us a new cable, then again we'll hear himCry, "All right! DE SAUTY."
Words in this poem
- extant a.
- Standing out or above any surface; protruded. [L. extans, -antis, or exstans, -antis, p.pr. of extare, exstare, to stand out or forth; ex out + stare to stand: cf. F. extant. See Stand.]
- boanerges
- Any declamatory and vociferous preacher or orator. [Gr. , fr. Heb. bn sons of thunder. -- an appellation given by Christ to two of his disciples (James and John). See Mark iii. 17.]
- ambulant a.
- Walking; moving from place to place. Gayton. [L. ambulans, p. pr. of ambulare to walk: cf. F. ambulant.]
- nightcap n.
- A cap worn in bed to protect the head, or in undress.
- acarus n.
- A genus including many species of small mites.
- pretermit v. t.
- To pass by; to omit; to disregard. [L. praetermittere, praetermissum; praeter beyond + mittere to send. See Mission.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- maternal a.
- Of or pertaining to a mother; becoming to a mother; motherly; as, maternal love; maternal tenderness. [F. maternel, L. maternus, fr. mater mother. See Mother.]
- nutrient a.
- Nutritious; nourishing; promoting growth. [L. nutriens, p. pr. of nutrire. See Nourish.]
- victual n.
- Food; -- now used chiefly in the plural. See Victuals. 2 Chron.
- hartshorn n.
- The horn or antler of the hart, or male red deer.
- deliquescence n.
- The act of deliquescing or liquefying; process by which anything deliquesces; tendency to melt. [Cf. F. déliquescence.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Professor Blue-Nose is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 06 Poems from the Breakfast Table Series, Project Gutenberg ebook #7393; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Professor Blue-Nose, in Poems from the Breakfast-Table Series (1858), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7393, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/holmes-breakfast-table-poems/professor-blue-nose.html, id L23580.
Form and metre
Professor Blue-Nose is 53 lines in 13 stanzas. The metre is trochaic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in trochaic hexameter.
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.
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| TELL me, O Provincial! speak, Ceruleo-Nasal! | 12 | ···˘/˘····/˘ |
| Lives there one De Sauty extant now among you, | 12 | ······/˘···· |
| Whispering Boanerges, son of silent thunder, | 12 | /˘˘·····/˘/˘ |
| Holding talk with nations? | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Is there a De Sauty ambulant on Tellus, | 12 | ······/˘˘··· |
| Bifid-cleft like mortals, dormient in nightcap, | 11 | /˘··/˘···/˘ |
| Having sight, smell, hearing, food-receiving feature | 12 | /˘··/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Three times daily patent? | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Breathes there such a being, O Ceruleo-Nasal? | 12 | ····/˘····/˘ |
| Or is he a mythus,--ancient word for "humbug"-- | 12 | ······/˘··/· |
| Such as Livy told about the wolf that wet-nursed | 12 | ············ |
| Romulus and Remus? | 6 | /˘˘·/˘ |
| Was he born of woman, this alleged De Sauty? | 12 | ····/˘·˘/··· |
| Or a living product of galvanic action, | 12 | ··/˘/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Like the acarus bred in Crosse's flint-solution? | 13 | ··/˘˘··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Speak, thou Cyano-Rhinal! | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Many things thou askest, jackknife-bearing stranger, | 12 | /˘····/˘/˘/˘ |
| Much-conjecturing mortal, pork-and-treacle-waster! | 13 | ·˘/˘˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Pretermit thy whittling, wheel thine ear-flap toward me, | 13 | ····/˘······· |
| Thou shall hear them answered. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| When the charge galvanic tingled through the cable, | 12 | ···˘/˘/˘··/˘ |
| At the polar focus of the wire electric | 13 | ··/˘/˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| Suddenly appeared a white-faced man among us | 12 | /˘˘˘/······· |
| Called himself "DE SAUTY." | 6 | ·˘/··· |
| As the small opossum held in pouch maternal | 12 | ···˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| Grasps the nutrient organ whence the term mammalia, | 13 | ··/˘/˘···˘/˘˘ |
| So the unknown stranger held the wire electric, | 13 | ··˘//˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| Sucking in the current. | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| When the current strengthened, bloomed the pale-faced stranger,-- | 12 | ··/˘/˘····/˘ |
| Took no drink nor victual, yet grew fat and rosy,-- | 12 | ····/˘····/˘ |
| And from time to time, in sharp articulation, | 12 | ········˘˘/˘ |
| Said, "All right! DE SAUTY." | 6 | ······ |
| From the lonely station passed the utterance, spreading | 13 | ··/˘/˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| Through the pines and hemlocks to the groves of steeples, | 12 | ····/·····/˘ |
| Till the land was filled with loud reverberations | 12 | ·······˘·˘/˘ |
| Of "All right DE SAUTY." | 6 | ······ |
| When the current slackened, drooped the mystic stranger,-- | 12 | ··/˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Faded, faded, faded, as the stream grew weaker,-- | 12 | /˘/˘/˘····/˘ |
| Wasted to a shadow, with a hartshorn odor | 12 | /˘··/···/·/˘ |
| Of disintegration. | 6 | ·˘·˘/˘ |
| Drops of deliquescence glistened on his forehead, | 12 | ······/˘··/˘ |
| Whitened round his feet the dust of efflorescence, | 12 | /˘·········· |
| Till one Monday morning, when the flow suspended, | 12 | ··/˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| There was no De Sauty. | 6 | ······ |
| Nothing but a cloud of elements organic, | 12 | /˘····/˘˘˘/˘ |
| C. O. H. N. Ferrum, Chlor. Flu. Sil. Potassa, | 12 | ·········˘/˘ |
| Cale. Sod. Phosph. Mag. Sulphur, Mang. (?) | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Alumin. (?) Cuprum, (?) | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Such as man is made of. | 6 | ······ |
| Born of stream galvanic, with it he had perished! | 12 | ···˘/˘····/˘ |
| There is no De Sauty now there is no current! | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| Give us a new cable, then again we'll hear him | 12 | ····/˘·˘/··· |
| Cry, "All right! DE SAUTY." | 6 | ······ |
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