Interlude
Soon as the story reached its end,One, over eager to commend,Crowned it with injudicious praise;And then the voice of blame found vent,And fanned the embers of dissentInto a somewhat lively blaze.
The Theologian shook his head;"These old Italian tales," he said,"From the much-praised Decameron downThrough all the rabble of the rest,Are either trifling, dull, or lewd;The gossip of a neighborhoodIn some remote provincial town,A scandalous chronicle at best!They seem to me a stagnant fen,Grown rank with rushes and with reeds,Where a white lily, now and then,Blooms in the midst of noxious weedsAnd deadly nightshade on its banks."
To this the Student straight replied,"For the white lily, many thanks!One should not say, with too much pride,Fountain, I will not drink of thee!Nor were it grateful to forget,That from these reservoirs and tanksEven imperial Shakespeare drewHis Moor of Venice, and the Jew,And Romeo and Juliet,And many a famous comedy."
Then a long pause; till some one said,"An Angel is flying overhead!"At these words spake the Spanish Jew,And murmured with an inward breath:"God grant, if what you say be true,It may not be the Angel of Death!"And then another pause; and then,Stroking his beard, he said again:"This brings back to my memoryA story in the Talmud told,That book of gems, that book of gold,Of wonders many and manifold,A tale that often comes to me,And fills my heart, and haunts my brain,And never wearies nor grows old."
Words in this poem
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- decameron n.
- A celebrated collection of tales, supposed to be related in ten days; -- written in the 14th century, by Boccaccio, an Italian. [It. decamerone, fr. Gr. décaméron.]
- lewd a.
- Not clerical; laic; laical; hence, unlearned; simple. [OE.lewed, lewd, lay, ignorant, vile, AS. l laical, belonging to the laity.]
- scandalous a.
- Giving offense to the conscience or moral feelings; exciting reprobation; calling out condemnation. [Cf. F. scandaleux.]
- stroking n.
- The act of rubbing gently with the hand, or of smoothing; a stroke.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Interlude 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, Interlude, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/interlude-2.html, id L17648.
Form and metre
Interlude is 44 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.3 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 16% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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 AABCCB endA · commendA · praiseB · ventC · dissentC · blazeB
- 2 AABC--BCDEDE- headA · saidA · downB · restC · lewd · neighborhood · townB · bestC · fenD · reedsE · thenD · weedsE · banks
- 3 ABA-CBDDC- repliedA · thanksB · prideA · thee · forgetC · tanksB · drewD · jewD · julietC · comedy
- 4 AABCBCDD-EEE--E saidA · overheadA · jewB · breathC · trueB · deathC · thenD · againD · memory · toldE · goldE · manifoldE · me · brain · oldE
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Soon as the story reached its end, | 9 | ···/˘·˘·· |
| One, over eager to commend, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Crowned it with injudicious praise; | 9 | ·˘··˘·/˘· |
| And then the voice of blame found vent, | 8 | ········ |
| And fanned the embers of dissent | 9 | ··˘·/˘·˘/ |
| Into a somewhat lively blaze. | 8 | ···///˘· |
| The Theologian shook his head; | 9 | ··˘/˘˘··· |
| "These old Italian tales," he said, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| "From the much-praised Decameron down | 10 | ····˘˘/˘˘· |
| Through all the rabble of the rest, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Are either trifling, dull, or lewd; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The gossip of a neighborhood | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| In some remote provincial town, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| A scandalous chronicle at best! | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘˘·· |
| They seem to me a stagnant fen, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Grown rank with rushes and with reeds, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Where a white lily, now and then, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Blooms in the midst of noxious weeds | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And deadly nightshade on its banks." | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| To this the Student straight replied, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| "For the white lily, many thanks! | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| One should not say, with too much pride, | 8 | ········ |
| Fountain, I will not drink of thee! | 8 | /˘······ |
| Nor were it grateful to forget, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| That from these reservoirs and tanks | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Even imperial Shakespeare drew | 9 | /˘˘/˘˘/·· |
| His Moor of Venice, and the Jew, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And Romeo and Juliet, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And many a famous comedy." | 9 | ·/˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| Then a long pause; till some one said, | 8 | ········ |
| "An Angel is flying overhead!" | 9 | ·/˘·/˘/˘/ |
| At these words spake the Spanish Jew, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And murmured with an inward breath: | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| "God grant, if what you say be true, | 8 | ········ |
| It may not be the Angel of Death!" | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| And then another pause; and then, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Stroking his beard, he said again: | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| "This brings back to my memory | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| A story in the Talmud told, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That book of gems, that book of gold, | 8 | ········ |
| Of wonders many and manifold, | 9 | ·/˘/˘·/˘· |
| A tale that often comes to me, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And fills my heart, and haunts my brain, | 8 | ········ |
| And never wearies nor grows old." | 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.