Parvenu
Where does Cinderella sleep?By far-off day-dream river.A secret place her burning PrinceDecks, while his heart-strings quiver.
Homesick for our cinder world,Her low-born shoulders shiver;She longs for sleep in cinders curled--We, for the day-dream river.
Words in this poem
- homesick a.
- Pining for home; in a nostalgic condition.
- cinder n.
- Partly burned or vitrified coal, or other combustible, in which fire is extinct. [AS. sinder slag, dross; akin to Icel. sindr dross, Sw. sinder, G. sinter, D. sintel; perh. influenced by F. cendre ashes, fr. L. cinis. Cf. Sinter.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Parvenu 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, Parvenu, in The Congo and Other Poems (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1021, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lindsay-congo/parvenu.html, id L00968.
Form and metre
Parvenu is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 -A-A sleep · riverA · prince · quiverA
- 2 ABAB worldA · shiverB · curledA · riverB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Where does Cinderella sleep? | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| By far-off day-dream river. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| A secret place her burning Prince | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Decks, while his heart-strings quiver. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Homesick for our cinder world, | 7 | /··//˘· |
| Her low-born shoulders shiver; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| She longs for sleep in cinders curled-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| We, for the day-dream river. | 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.