The Spagnoletto: A Play in Five Acts
Publisher's note: Thanks are due to the Editors of "The Century,"Lippincott's Magazine, and "The Critic," for their courtesy inallowing the poems published by them to be reprinted in thesepages.
"What simple things be these the soul to raiseTo bounding joy, and make young pulses beatWith nameless pleasure, finding life so sweet!"
Behold, yon bolt struck home,And over ruined fields the storm hath come."
"The mystic winged and flickering butterfly,A human soul, that drifts at liberty,Ah! who can tell to what strange paradise,To what undreamed-of fields and lofty skies!"
"Does not the morn break thus,Swift, bright, victorious,With new skies cleared for usOver the soul storm-tost?Her night was long and deep,Strange visions vexed her sleep,Strange sorrows bade her weep,Her faith in dawn was lost.
"No halt, no rest for her,The immortal wandererFrom sphere to higher sphereToward the pure source of day.The new light shames her fears,Her faithlessness and tears,As the new sun appearsTo light her god-like way."
"To see the lightThat plays upon the grass, to feel (and sighWith perfect pleasure) the mild breeze stirAmong the garden roses, red and white,With whiffs of fragrancy."
She gives us the breath of the pines and of the cool, salt seas,"illimitably sparkling." Her ears drink the ripple of the tide, and shestops
"To gaze as one who is not satisfiedWith gazing at the large, bright, breathing sea."
"Does love steal gently o'er our soul?"
"What if he come,A cloud, a fire, a whirlwind?"
"O my God!This awful joy in mine own heart is love."
Words in this poem
- nameless a.
- Without a name; not having been given a name; as, a nameless star.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- fragrancy n.
- The quality of being fragrant; sweetness of smell; a sweet smell; a pleasing odor; perfume. [L. fragrantia: cf. OF. fragrance.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Spagnoletto: A Play in Five Acts 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 Spagnoletto: A Play in Five Acts, in Admetus, and Other Poems (1867–1887), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3295, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lazarus-poems/the-spagnoletto-a-play-in-five-acts.html, id L01862.
Form and metre
The Spagnoletto: A Play in Five Acts is 44 lines in 12 stanzas. 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 --AA century · in · theseA · pagesA
- 2 -AA raise · beatA · sweetA
- 3 AA homeA · comeA
- 5 AAABCCCB thusA · victoriousA · usA · tostB · deepC · sleepC · weepC · lostB
- 6 ---ABBBA her · wanderer · sphere · dayA · fearsB · tearsB · appearsB · wayA
- 7 A--A- lightA · sigh · stir · whiteA · fragrancy
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher's note: Thanks are due to the Editors of "The Century," | 14 | /˘······/˘··/˘ |
| Lippincott's Magazine, and "The Critic," for their courtesy in | 14 | /˘/˘···/˘··/˘· |
| allowing the poems published by them to be reprinted in these | 17 | ˘/˘·/˘/˘····˘/˘·· |
| pages. | 2 | /˘ |
| "What simple things be these the soul to raise | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| To bounding joy, and make young pulses beat | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| With nameless pleasure, finding life so sweet!" | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Behold, yon bolt struck home, | 6 | ˘/···· |
| And over ruined fields the storm hath come." | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| "The mystic winged and flickering butterfly, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| A human soul, that drifts at liberty, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| Ah! who can tell to what strange paradise, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To what undreamed-of fields and lofty skies!" | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| "Does not the morn break thus, | 6 | ······ |
| Swift, bright, victorious, | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| With new skies cleared for us | 6 | ······ |
| Over the soul storm-tost? | 6 | ······ |
| Her night was long and deep, | 6 | ······ |
| Strange visions vexed her sleep, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Strange sorrows bade her weep, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Her faith in dawn was lost. | 6 | ······ |
| "No halt, no rest for her, | 6 | ······ |
| The immortal wanderer | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘˘ |
| From sphere to higher sphere | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Toward the pure source of day. | 7 | ······· |
| The new light shames her fears, | 6 | ······ |
| Her faithlessness and tears, | 6 | ······ |
| As the new sun appears | 6 | ····˘/ |
| To light her god-like way." | 6 | ······ |
| "To see the light | 4 | ···· |
| That plays upon the grass, to feel (and sigh | 10 | ·········· |
| With perfect pleasure) the mild breeze stir | 9 | ·/·/˘···· |
| Among the garden roses, red and white, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| With whiffs of fragrancy." | 6 | ······ |
| She gives us the breath of the pines and of the cool, salt seas, | 14 | ·············· |
| "illimitably sparkling." Her ears drink the ripple of the tide, and she | 18 | ·····/˘····/˘····· |
| stops | 1 | · |
| "To gaze as one who is not satisfied | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With gazing at the large, bright, breathing sea." | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| "Does love steal gently o'er our soul?" | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| "What if he come, | 4 | ···· |
| A cloud, a fire, a whirlwind?" | 8 | ···/˘·/· |
| "O my God! | 3 | ··· |
| This awful joy in mine own heart is love." | 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.