The Temptress
Old Devil, when you come with horns and tail,With diabolic grin and crafty leer;I say, such bogey-man devices wholly failTo waken in my heart a single fear.
But when you wear a form I know so well,A form so human, yet so near divine;'Tis then I fall beneath the magic of your spell,'Tis then I know the vantage is not mine.
Ah! when you take your horns from off your head,And soft and fragrant hair is in their place;I must admit I fear the tangled path I treadWhen that dear head is laid against my face.
And at what time you change your baleful eyesFor stars that melt into the gloom of night,All of my courage, my dear fellow, quickly flies;I know my chance is slim to win the fight.
And when, instead of charging down to wreckMe on a red-hot pitchfork in your hand,You throw a pair of slender arms about my neck,I dare not trust the ground on which I stand.
Whene'er in place of using patent wile,Or trying to frighten me with horrid grin,You tempt me with two crimson lips curved in a smile;Old Devil, I must really own, you win.
Words in this poem
- diabolic a.
- Pertaining to the devil; resembling, or appropriate, or appropriate to, the devil; devilish; infernal; impious; atrocious; nefarious; outrageously wicked; as, a diabolic or diabolical temper or act. [L. diabolicus, Gr. diabolique. See Devil.]
- grin n.
- A snare; a gin. [AS. grin.]
- waken v. i.
- To wake; to cease to sleep; to be awakened. [OE. waknen, AS. wæcnan; akin to Goth. gawaknan. See Wake, v. i.]
- vantage v. t.
- To profit; to aid.
- pitchfork n.
- A fork, or farming utensil, used in pitching hay, sheaves of grain, or the like.
- wile n.
- A trick or stratagem practiced for insnaring or deception; a sly, insidious; artifice; a beguilement; an allurement. [OE. wile, AS. wil; cf. Icel. v, væl. Cf. Guile.]
- horrid a.
- Rough; rugged; bristling. [L. horridus. See Horror, and cf. Ordure.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Temptress is in the public domain. This text is taken from Fifty Years, & Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #17884; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Weldon Johnson, The Temptress, in Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17884, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-fifty-years/the-temptress.html, id L08315.
Form and metre
The Temptress is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.5 syllables. 17% 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 ABAB tailA · leerB · failA · fearB
- 2 ABAB wellA · divineB · spellA · mineB
- 3 ABAB headA · placeB · treadA · faceB
- 4 ABAB eyesA · nightB · fliesA · fightB
- 5 ABAB wreckA · handB · neckA · standB
- 6 ABAB wileA · grinB · smileA · winB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Old Devil, when you come with horns and tail, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| With diabolic grin and crafty leer; | 9 | ······/˘· |
| I say, such bogey-man devices wholly fail | 12 | ···/˘·˘/˘/˘· |
| To waken in my heart a single fear. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| But when you wear a form I know so well, | 10 | ·········· |
| A form so human, yet so near divine; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| 'Tis then I fall beneath the magic of your spell, | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
| 'Tis then I know the vantage is not mine. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Ah! when you take your horns from off your head, | 10 | ·········· |
| And soft and fragrant hair is in their place; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I must admit I fear the tangled path I tread | 12 | ··˘/···/˘··· |
| When that dear head is laid against my face. | 10 | ·········· |
| And at what time you change your baleful eyes | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| For stars that melt into the gloom of night, | 10 | ·········· |
| All of my courage, my dear fellow, quickly flies; | 12 | ···/˘··/˘/˘· |
| I know my chance is slim to win the fight. | 10 | ·········· |
| And when, instead of charging down to wreck | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Me on a red-hot pitchfork in your hand, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| You throw a pair of slender arms about my neck, | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| I dare not trust the ground on which I stand. | 10 | ·········· |
| Whene'er in place of using patent wile, | 11 | ······/˘/˘· |
| Or trying to frighten me with horrid grin, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘··/˘· |
| You tempt me with two crimson lips curved in a smile; | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| Old Devil, I must really own, you win. | 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.