Drinking Song, Inscription for an Antique Pitcher
Come, old friend! sit down and listen!From the pitcher, placed between us,How the waters laugh and glistenIn the head of old Silenus!
Old Silenus, bloated, drunken,Led by his inebriate Satyrs;On his breast his head is sunken,Vacantly he leers and chatters.
Fauns with youthful Bacchus follow;Ivy crowns that brow supernalAs the forehead of Apollo,And possessing youth eternal.
Round about him, fair Bacchantes,Bearing cymbals, flutes, and thyrses,Wild from Naxian groves, or Zante'sVineyards, sing delirious verses.
Thus he won, through all the nations,Bloodless victories, and the farmerBore, as trophies and oblations,Vines for banners, ploughs for armor.
Judged by no o'erzealous rigor,Much this mystic throng expresses:Bacchus was the type of vigor,And Silenus of excesses.
These are ancient ethnic revels,Of a faith long since forsaken;Now the Satyrs, changed to devils,Frighten mortals wine-o'ertaken.
Now to rivulets from the mountainsPoint the rods of fortune-tellers;Youth perpetual dwells in fountains,--Not in flasks, and casks, and cellars.
Claudius, though he sang of flagonsAnd huge tankards filled with Rhenish,From that fiery blood of dragonsNever would his own replenish.
Even Redi, though he chauntedBacchus in the Tuscan valleys,Never drank the wine he vauntedIn his dithyrambic sallies.
Then with water fill the pitcherWreathed about with classic fables;Ne'er Falernian threw a richerLight upon Lucullus' tables.
Come, old friend, sit down and listenAs it passes thus between us,How its wavelets laugh and glistenIn the head of old Silenus!
Words in this poem
- inebriate v. i.
- To become drunk.
- vacantly adv.
- In a vacant manner; inanely.
- supernal a.
- Being in a higher place or region; locally higher; as, the supernal orbs; supernal regions. [L. supernus, from super above: cf. F. supernel. See Super-.]
- ethnic n.
- A heathen; a pagan.
- rhenish a.
- Of or pertaining to the river Rhine; as, Rhenish wine. [L. Rhenus the Rhine.]
- replenish v. i.
- To recover former fullness.
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
- dithyrambic a.
- Pertaining to, or resembling, a dithyramb; wild and boisterous. [L. dithyrambicus, Gr. dithyrambique.]
- classic a.
- Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art. [L. classicus relating to the classes of the Roman people, and especially to the frist class; hence, of the first rank, superior, from classis class: cf. F. clas]
- falernian a.
- Of or pertaining to Mount Falernus, in Italy; as, Falernianwine.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Drinking Song, Inscription for an Antique Pitcher 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, Drinking Song, Inscription for an Antique Pitcher, in A Psalm of Life, and Other Poems (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/inscription-for-an-antique-pitcher.html, id L17538.
Form and metre
Drinking Song, Inscription for an Antique Pitcher is 48 lines in 12 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 38 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 27% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 listenA · usB · glistenA · silenusB
- 2 ABAB drunkenA · satyrsB · sunkenA · chattersB
- 3 ABAB followA · supernalB · apolloA · eternalB
- 4 ABAB bacchantesA · thyrsesB · zante'sA · versesB
- 5 ABAB nationsA · farmerB · oblationsA · armorB
- 6 ABAB rigorA · expressesB · vigorA · excessesB
- 7 ABAB revelsA · forsakenB · devilsA · o'ertakenB
- 8 ABAB mountainsA · tellersB · fountainsA · cellarsB
- 9 ABAB flagonsA · rhenishB · dragonsA · replenishB
- 10 ABAB chauntedA · valleysB · vauntedA · salliesB
- 11 ABAB pitcherA · fablesB · richerA · tablesB
- 12 ABAB listenA · usB · glistenA · silenusB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Come, old friend! sit down and listen! | 8 | ······/˘ |
| From the pitcher, placed between us, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| How the waters laugh and glisten | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| In the head of old Silenus! | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Old Silenus, bloated, drunken, | 8 | ·˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Led by his inebriate Satyrs; | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| On his breast his head is sunken, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Vacantly he leers and chatters. | 8 | /˘˘···/˘ |
| Fauns with youthful Bacchus follow; | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Ivy crowns that brow supernal | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| As the forehead of Apollo, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| And possessing youth eternal. | 8 | ·˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Round about him, fair Bacchantes, | 7 | ······· |
| Bearing cymbals, flutes, and thyrses, | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Wild from Naxian groves, or Zante's | 7 | ······· |
| Vineyards, sing delirious verses. | 9 | /˘·˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Thus he won, through all the nations, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Bloodless victories, and the farmer | 9 | /˘/˘˘··/˘ |
| Bore, as trophies and oblations, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Vines for banners, ploughs for armor. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Judged by no o'erzealous rigor, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Much this mystic throng expresses: | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Bacchus was the type of vigor, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| And Silenus of excesses. | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| These are ancient ethnic revels, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Of a faith long since forsaken; | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Now the Satyrs, changed to devils, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Frighten mortals wine-o'ertaken. | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Now to rivulets from the mountains | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Point the rods of fortune-tellers; | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Youth perpetual dwells in fountains,-- | 9 | ·˘/˘˘··/˘ |
| Not in flasks, and casks, and cellars. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Claudius, though he sang of flagons | 8 | /˘······ |
| And huge tankards filled with Rhenish, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| From that fiery blood of dragons | 9 | ··/˘˘··/˘ |
| Never would his own replenish. | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| Even Redi, though he chaunted | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Bacchus in the Tuscan valleys, | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Never drank the wine he vaunted | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| In his dithyrambic sallies. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Then with water fill the pitcher | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Wreathed about with classic fables; | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Ne'er Falernian threw a richer | 9 | ·˘/˘˘··/˘ |
| Light upon Lucullus' tables. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Come, old friend, sit down and listen | 8 | ······/˘ |
| As it passes thus between us, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| How its wavelets laugh and glisten | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| In the head of old Silenus! | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
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.