Men of Aquino
Those angry fires, that clove the air,Heavy with Rome's imperial lust:Those bitter fires, that burn and flareUnquenched, above their kindler's dust:Aquinum can their birth declare.
The wicked splendours of old time,Juvenal! stung thy passionate heart.Wrath learned of thee a scorn sublime;The Muses, a prophetic art:Yet pride and lust kept still their prime.
A greater birth, Aquinum knows:Rank upon rank, in stately wise;Rank upon rank, in ordered rows;Like sacred hosts and hierarchies,The march of holy science goes.
Vain, a man's voice, to conquer men!Rome fell: Rome rose: Aquinum lentThe world her greater citizen:Armed for Rome's war, Saint Thomas went,Using God's voice: they listened, then.
Ah, Juvenal! thy trumpet sound:Woe for the fallen soul of Rome!But the high saint, whose music foundThe altar its eternal home,Sang: Lauda Sion! heavenward bound.
A fourfold music of the Host,He sang: the open Heavens shone plain.Then back he turned him to his post,And opened heavenly Laws again,From first to last, both least and most.
O little Latin town! rejoice,Who hast such motherhood, as this:Through all the worlds of faith one voiceChaunts forth the truth; yet stays not his,Whose anger made a righteous choice.
Words in this poem
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- lust v. i.
- To list; to like. [AS. lystan. See Lust, n., and cf. List to choose.]
- flare v. i.
- To burn with an unsteady or waving flame; as, the candle flares. [Cf. Norw. flara to blaze, flame, adorn with tinsel, dial. Sw. flasa upp, and E. flash, or flacker.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- motherhood n.
- The state of being a mother; the character or office of a mother.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Men of Aquino is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #66520; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Lionel Johnson, Men of Aquino, in Poems (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66520, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-lionel-poems/men-of-aquino.html, id L12514.
Form and metre
Men of Aquino is 35 lines in 7 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABA, complete in 5 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 ABABA airA · lustB · flareA · dustB · declareA
- 2 ABABA timeA · heartB · sublimeA · artB · primeA
- 3 A-AAA knowsA · wise · rowsA · hierarchiesA · goesA
- 4 ABABA menA · lentB · citizenA · wentB · thenA
- 5 ABABA soundA · romeB · foundA · homeB · boundA
- 6 ABABA hostA · plainB · postA · againB · mostA
- 7 A-A-A rejoiceA · this · voiceA · his · choiceA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Those angry fires, that clove the air, | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| Heavy with Rome's imperial lust: | 8 | /˘··˘/˘· |
| Those bitter fires, that burn and flare | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| Unquenched, above their kindler's dust: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Aquinum can their birth declare. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The wicked splendours of old time, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Juvenal! stung thy passionate heart. | 8 | /˘˘··/˘· |
| Wrath learned of thee a scorn sublime; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The Muses, a prophetic art: | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Yet pride and lust kept still their prime. | 8 | ········ |
| A greater birth, Aquinum knows: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Rank upon rank, in stately wise; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Rank upon rank, in ordered rows; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Like sacred hosts and hierarchies, | 8 | ·/˘··/·˘ |
| The march of holy science goes. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Vain, a man's voice, to conquer men! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Rome fell: Rome rose: Aquinum lent | 8 | ········ |
| The world her greater citizen: | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Armed for Rome's war, Saint Thomas went, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Using God's voice: they listened, then. | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Ah, Juvenal! thy trumpet sound: | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Woe for the fallen soul of Rome! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But the high saint, whose music found | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The altar its eternal home, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Sang: Lauda Sion! heavenward bound. | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| A fourfold music of the Host, | 8 | ·///˘··· |
| He sang: the open Heavens shone plain. | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| Then back he turned him to his post, | 8 | ········ |
| And opened heavenly Laws again, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| From first to last, both least and most. | 8 | ········ |
| O little Latin town! rejoice, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Who hast such motherhood, as this: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Through all the worlds of faith one voice | 8 | ········ |
| Chaunts forth the truth; yet stays not his, | 8 | ········ |
| Whose anger made a righteous choice. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
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.