Ternissa! you are fled
Ternissa! you are fled!I say not to the dead,But to the happy ones who rest below:For, surely, surely, whereYour voice and graces are,Nothing of death can any feel or know.Girls who delight to dwellWhere grows most asphodel,Gather to their calm breasts each word you speak:The mild PersephonePlaces you on her knee,And your cool palm smooths down stern Pluto's cheek.
Words in this poem
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- asphodel n.
- A general name for a plant of the genus Asphodelus. The asphodels are hardy perennial plants, several species of which are cultivated for the beauty of their flowers. [L. asphodelus, Gr. Daffodil.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ternissa! you are fled is in the public domain. This text is taken from Imaginary Conversations and Poems: A Selection, Project Gutenberg ebook #21628; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Walter Savage Landor, Ternissa! you are fled, in Imaginary Conversations and Poems (1795–1863), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21628, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/landor-poems/ternissa-you-are-fled.html, id L12195.
Form and metre
Ternissa! you are fled is 12 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 AAB--B--C--C fledA · deadA · belowB · where · are · knowB · dwell · asphodel · speakC · persephone · knee · cheekC
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Ternissa! you are fled! | 6 | ······ |
| I say not to the dead, | 6 | ······ |
| But to the happy ones who rest below: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For, surely, surely, where | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Your voice and graces are, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Nothing of death can any feel or know. | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Girls who delight to dwell | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Where grows most asphodel, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Gather to their calm breasts each word you speak: | 10 | /˘········ |
| The mild Persephone | 5 | ····· |
| Places you on her knee, | 6 | /˘···· |
| And your cool palm smooths down stern Pluto's cheek. | 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.