The Cranes of Ibycus
There was a man who watched the river flowPast the huge town, one gray November day.Round him in narrow high-piled streets at playThe boys made merry as they saw him go,Murmuring half-loud, with eyes upon the stream,The immortal screed he held within his hand.For he was walking in an April landWith Faust and Helen. Shadowy as a dreamWas the prose-world, the river and the town.Wild joy possessed him; through enchanted skiesHe saw the cranes of Ibycus swoop down.He closed the page, he lifted up his eyes,Lo--a black line of birds in wavering threadBore him the greetings of the deathless dead!
Words in this poem
- piled a.
- Having a pile or point; pointed. [From 2d Pile.]
- screed n.
- A breach or rent; a breaking forth into a loud, shrill sound; as, martial screeds. [See 1st Screed. For sense 2 cf. also Gael. sgread an outcry.]
- enchanted a.
- Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
- swoop v. t.
- To fall on at once and seize; to catch while on the wing; as, a hawk swoops a chicken. [OE. swopen, usually, to sweep, As. swapan to sweep, to rush; akin to G. schweifen to rove, to ramble, to curve, OHG. sweifan to whirl, Icel. sveipa to sweep; al]
- deathless a.
- Not subject to death, destruction, or extinction; immortal; undying; imperishable; as, deathless beings; deathless fame.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Cranes of Ibycus is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Emma Lazarus, Volume 1, Project Gutenberg ebook #3295; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Emma Lazarus, The Cranes of Ibycus, in Admetus, and Other Poems (1867–1887), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3295, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lazarus-poems/the-cranes-of-ibycus.html, id L01926.
Form and metre
The Cranes of Ibycus is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBACDDCEFEFGG. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 43% 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 ABBACDDCEFEFGG flowA · dayB · playB · goA · streamC · handD · landD · dreamC · townE · skiesF · downE · eyesF · threadG · deadG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There was a man who watched the river flow | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Past the huge town, one gray November day. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Round him in narrow high-piled streets at play | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The boys made merry as they saw him go, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Murmuring half-loud, with eyes upon the stream, | 10 | /˘········ |
| The immortal screed he held within his hand. | 11 | ·˘/˘······· |
| For he was walking in an April land | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| With Faust and Helen. Shadowy as a dream | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Was the prose-world, the river and the town. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Wild joy possessed him; through enchanted skies | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| He saw the cranes of Ibycus swoop down. | 10 | ·········· |
| He closed the page, he lifted up his eyes, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Lo--a black line of birds in wavering thread | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Bore him the greetings of the deathless dead! | 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.