Romans
How shall I praise thee, Caesar? Thou art he,Through whom all Europe's greatness came to beAnd the world's central crime is thy swift death.And thou too, Cicero! the voice of Rome!The listening world is thy perpetual home:Earth's plain, thy floor; the embracing sky, thy dome.No greater things than these, great history saith:Caesarian sword, and Ciceronian breath.
You were no friends: but you are brothers now:Equal, the laurels on each victor's brow:Triumphing generations throng each car.This night, I hear those measured tides of sound,Surging above that crownless king discrowned,Dead on that sacred senatorial ground:Low in the dark hangs, burning from afar,With pale and solemn fires, the Julian Star.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- saith
- 3d pers. sing. pres. of Say.
- ciceronian a.
- Resembling Cicero in style or action; eloquent. [L. Ciceronianus, fr. Cicero, the orator.]
- triumphing a.
- Having or celebrating a triumph; victorious; triumphant.
- crownless a.
- Without a crown.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- julian a.
- Relating to, or derived from, Julius Cæsar. Julian calendar, the calendar as adjusted by Julius Cæsar, in which the year was made to consist of 365 days, each fourth year having 366 days. [L. Julianus, fr. Julius. Cf. July, Gillian.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Romans 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, Romans, in Poems (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66520, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-lionel-poems/romans.html, id L12499.
Form and metre
Romans is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCCCBB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
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 AABCCCBB heA · beA · deathB · romeC · homeC · domeC · saithB · breathB
- 2 AABCCCBB nowA · browA · carB · soundC · discrownedC · groundC · afarB · starB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| How shall I praise thee, Caesar? Thou art he, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Through whom all Europe's greatness came to be | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And the world's central crime is thy swift death. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And thou too, Cicero! the voice of Rome! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The listening world is thy perpetual home: | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Earth's plain, thy floor; the embracing sky, thy dome. | 11 | ·····˘/˘··· |
| No greater things than these, great history saith: | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Caesarian sword, and Ciceronian breath. | 10 | ·········· |
| You were no friends: but you are brothers now: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Equal, the laurels on each victor's brow: | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Triumphing generations throng each car. | 10 | /˘˘·˘/˘··· |
| This night, I hear those measured tides of sound, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Surging above that crownless king discrowned, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Dead on that sacred senatorial ground: | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Low in the dark hangs, burning from afar, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| With pale and solemn fires, the Julian Star. | 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.