The Elixir
"Oh brew me a potion strong and good!One golden drop in his wineShall charm his sense and fire his blood,And bend his will to mine."
Poor child of passion! ask of meElixir of death or sleep,Or Lethe's stream; but love is free,And woman must wait and weep.
Words in this poem
- brew v. t.
- To boil or seethe; to cook. [OE. brewen, AS. breówan; akin to D. brouwen, OHG. priuwan, MHG. briuwen, br, G. brauen, Icel. brugga, Sw. brygga, Dan. brygge, and perh. to L. defrutum must boi]
- 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,]
- elixir n.
- A tincture with more than one base; a compound tincture or medicine, composed of various substances, held in solution by alcohol in some form. [F. élixir, Sp. elixir, Ar. eliksir the philosopher's stone, prob. from Gr. ksha to burn.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Elixir 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 Elixir, in Poems, Volume I (1867–1887), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3295, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lazarus-poems/the-elixir.html, id L01904.
Form and metre
The Elixir is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, 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 7.5 syllables. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABAB goodA · wineB · bloodA · mineB
- 2 ABAB meA · sleepB · freeA · weepB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Oh brew me a potion strong and good! | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| One golden drop in his wine | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Shall charm his sense and fire his blood, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| And bend his will to mine." | 6 | ······ |
| Poor child of passion! ask of me | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Elixir of death or sleep, | 7 | ˘/˘···· |
| Or Lethe's stream; but love is free, | 7 | ······· |
| And woman must wait and weep. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
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.