August
The Emperor Octavian, called the August,I being his favorite, bestowed his nameUpon me, and I hold it still in trust,In memory of him and of his fame.I am the Virgin, and my vestal flameBurns less intensely than the Lion's rage;Sheaves are my only garlands, and I claimThe golden Harvests as my heritage.
Words in this poem
- vestal a.
- Of or pertaining to Vesta, the virgin goddess of the hearth; hence, pure; chaste. [L. Vestalis belonging to Vesta, vestal. See Vesta.]
- intensely adv.
- Intently. J. Spencer.
- heritage a.
- That which is inherited, or passes from heir to heir; inheritance. [OE. heritage, eritage, OF. heritage, eritage, F. héritage, fr. hériter to inherit, LL. heriditare. See Hereditable.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
August is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, August, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/august.html, id L17822.
Form and metre
August is 8 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABBCBC. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% 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 ABABBCBC augustA · nameB · trustA · fameB · flameB · rageC · claimB · heritageC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The Emperor Octavian, called the August, | 11 | ·/˘˘·····/˘ |
| I being his favorite, bestowed his name | 10 | ·/·/˘˘˘/·· |
| Upon me, and I hold it still in trust, | 10 | ·········· |
| In memory of him and of his fame. | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| I am the Virgin, and my vestal flame | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Burns less intensely than the Lion's rage; | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Sheaves are my only garlands, and I claim | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The golden Harvests as my heritage. | 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.