Incense
An ArgumentA Rhyme about an Electrical Advertising SignIn Memory of a ChildGalahad, Knight Who PerishedThe Leaden-eyedAn Indian Summer Day on the PrairieThe Hearth EternalThe Soul of the City Receives the Gift of the Holy SpiritBy the Spring, at SunsetI Went down into the DesertLove and LawThe Perfect MarriageDarling Daughter of BabylonThe AmaranthThe Alchemist's PetitionTwo Easter StanzasThe Traveller-heartThe North Star Whispers to the Blacksmith's Son
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- amaranth n.
- An imaginary flower supposed never to fade.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Incense is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Congo, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1021; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Vachel Lindsay, Incense, in The Congo and Other Poems (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1021, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lindsay-congo/incense.html, id L00932.
Form and metre
Incense is 18 lines in a single stanza. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in trochaic trimeter. 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.9 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 100% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 -------AAA--B-B--B argument · sign · child · perished · eyed · prairie · eternal · spiritA · sunsetA · desertA · law · marriage · babylonB · amaranth · petitionB · stanzas · heart · sonB
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 trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| An Argument | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| A Rhyme about an Electrical Advertising Sign | 13 | ·····˘/˘/˘·˘· |
| In Memory of a Child | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Galahad, Knight Who Perished | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| The Leaden-eyed | 4 | ·/˘· |
| An Indian Summer Day on the Prairie | 10 | ·/˘/˘···/˘ |
| The Hearth Eternal | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| The Soul of the City Receives the Gift of the Holy Spirit | 15 | ····/˘˘/····/˘/ |
| By the Spring, at Sunset | 6 | ····/· |
| I Went down into the Desert | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Love and Law | 3 | ··· |
| The Perfect Marriage | 5 | ·/·/˘ |
| Darling Daughter of Babylon | 8 | /˘/˘·/˘· |
| The Amaranth | 4 | ·/˘· |
| The Alchemist's Petition | 7 | ·/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Two Easter Stanzas | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| The Traveller-heart | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| The North Star Whispers to the Blacksmith's Son | 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.