Horace, Book IV, Ode VII, Translated
The snow, dissolv'd, no more is seen,The fields and woods, behold! are green;The changing year renews the plain,The rivers know their banks again;The sprightly nymph and naked graceThe mazy dance together trace;The changing year's successive planProclaims mortality to man;Rough winter's blasts to spring give way,Spring yields to summer's sov'reign ray;Then summer sinks in autumn's reign,And winter chills the world again;Her losses soon the moon supplies,But wretched man, when once he liesWhere Priam and his sons are laid,Is nought but ashes and a shade.Who knows if Jove, who counts our score,Will toss us in a morning more?What with your friend you nobly share,At least you rescue from your heir.Not you, Torquatus, boast of Rome,When Minos once has fixed your doom,Or eloquence, or splendid birth,Or virtue, shall restore to earth.Hippolytus, unjustly slain,Diana calls to life in vain;Nor can the might of Theseus rendThe chains of hell that hold his friend.
Words in this poem
- mortality n.
- The condition or quality of being mortal; subjection to death or to the necessity of dying. [L. mortalitas: cf. F. mortalité.]
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- nobly adv.
- Of noble extraction; as, nobly born or descended.
- minos n.
- A king and lawgiver of Crete, fabled to be the son of Jupiter and Europa. After death he was made a judge in the Lower Regions.
- 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,]
- diana n.
- The daughter of Jupiter and Latona; a virgin goddess who presided over hunting, chastity, and marriage; -- identified with the Greek goddess Artemis. [L. Diana.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Horace, Book IV, Ode VII, Translated is in the public domain. This text is taken from Dr. Johnson's Works: Life, Poems, and Tales, Volume 1 (The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine Volumes, 1825), Project Gutenberg ebook #10835; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Samuel Johnson, Horace, Book IV, Ode VII, Translated, in Poems (1825), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10835, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-poems/horace-book-iv-ode-vii-translated.html, id L27154.
Form and metre
Horace, Book IV, Ode VII, Translated is 28 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMMNN seenA · greenA · plainB · againB · graceC · traceC · planD · manD · wayE · rayE · reignF · againF · suppliesG · liesG · laidH · shadeH · scoreI · moreI · shareJ · heirJ · romeK · doomK · birthL · earthL · slainM · vainM · rendN · friendN
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The snow, dissolv'd, no more is seen, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| The fields and woods, behold! are green; | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| The changing year renews the plain, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| The rivers know their banks again; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The sprightly nymph and naked grace | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The mazy dance together trace; | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| The changing year's successive plan | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Proclaims mortality to man; | 8 | ˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| Rough winter's blasts to spring give way, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Spring yields to summer's sov'reign ray; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Then summer sinks in autumn's reign, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And winter chills the world again; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Her losses soon the moon supplies, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| But wretched man, when once he lies | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Where Priam and his sons are laid, | 8 | ·/······ |
| Is nought but ashes and a shade. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Who knows if Jove, who counts our score, | 8 | ······/· |
| Will toss us in a morning more? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| What with your friend you nobly share, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| At least you rescue from your heir. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Not you, Torquatus, boast of Rome, | 8 | ········ |
| When Minos once has fixed your doom, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Or eloquence, or splendid birth, | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Or virtue, shall restore to earth. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Hippolytus, unjustly slain, | 8 | ˘/˘˘˘/˘· |
| Diana calls to life in vain; | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Nor can the might of Theseus rend | 8 | ········ |
| The chains of hell that hold his friend. | 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.