Book III: Ode XVIII: Faune, Nympharum
O wont the flying Nymphs to woo,Good Faunus, through my sunny farmPass gently, gently pass, nor doMy younglings harm.Each year, thou know'st, a kid must dieFor thee; nor lacks the wine's full streamTo Venus' mate, the bowl; and highThe altars steam.Sure as December's nones appear,All o'er the grass the cattle play;The village, with the lazy steer,Keeps holyday.Wolves rove among the fearless sheep;The woods for thee their foliage strow;The delver loves on earth to leap,His ancient foe.
Words in this poem
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- holyday n.
- A religious festival.
- delver n.
- One who digs, as with a spade.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book III: Ode XVIII: Faune, Nympharum is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Odes and Carmen Saeculare, Project Gutenberg ebook #5432, the John Conington translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Horace, Book III: Ode XVIII: Faune, Nympharum, in The Odes and Carmen Saeculare (1863), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5432, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/horace-odes/book-iii-ode-xviii-faune-nympharum.html, id L13970.
Form and metre
Book III: Ode XVIII: Faune, Nympharum is 16 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGHGH. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 31% 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 ABABCDCDEFEFGHGH wooA · farmB · doA · harmB · dieC · streamD · highC · steamD · appearE · playF · steerE · holydayF · sheepG · strowH · leapG · foeH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O wont the flying Nymphs to woo, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Good Faunus, through my sunny farm | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Pass gently, gently pass, nor do | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| My younglings harm. | 4 | ···· |
| Each year, thou know'st, a kid must die | 8 | ········ |
| For thee; nor lacks the wine's full stream | 8 | ········ |
| To Venus' mate, the bowl; and high | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The altars steam. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Sure as December's nones appear, | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| All o'er the grass the cattle play; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The village, with the lazy steer, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Keeps holyday. | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| Wolves rove among the fearless sheep; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The woods for thee their foliage strow; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The delver loves on earth to leap, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| His ancient foe. | 4 | ·/˘· |
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.