Interlude
"O Edrehi, forbear to-nightYour ghostly legends of affright,And let the Talmud rest in peace;Spare us your dismal tales of deathThat almost take away one's breath;So doing, may your tribe increase."
Thus the Sicilian said; then wentAnd on the spinet's rattling keysPlayed Marianina, like a breezeFrom Naples and the Southern seas,That brings us the delicious scentOf citron and of orange trees,And memories of soft days of easeAt Capri and Amalfi spent.
"Not so," the eager Poet said;"At least, not so before I tellThe story of my Azrael,An angel mortal as ourselves,Which in an ancient tome I foundUpon a convent's dusty shelves,Chained with an iron chain, and boundIn parchment, and with clasps of brass,Lest from its prison, some dark day,It might be stolen or steal away,While the good friars were singing mass.
"It is a tale of Charlemagne,When like a thunder-cloud, that lowersAnd sweeps from mountain-crest to coast,With lightning flaming through its showers,He swept across the Lombard plain,Beleaguering with his warlike trainPavia, the country's pride and boast,The City of the Hundred Towers."Thus heralded the tale began,And thus in sober measure ran.
Words in this poem
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
- dismal a.
- Fatal; ill-omened; unlucky. [Formerly a noun; e. g., "I trow it was in the dismalle." Chaucer. Of uncertain origin; but perh. (as suggested by Skeat) from OF. disme, F. dîme, tithe, the phr]
- sicilian a.
- Of or pertaining to Sicily or its inhabitants. Sicilian vespers, the great massacre of the French in Sicily, in the year 1282, on the evening of Easter Monday, at the hour of vespers.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- capri n.
- Wine produced on the island of Capri, commonly a light, dry, white wine.
- lombard a.
- Of or pertaining to Lombardy, or the inhabitants of Lombardy.
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-7.html, id L17691.
Form and metre
Interlude is 35 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.3 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 34% 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 nightA · affrightA · peaceB · deathC · breathC · increaseB
- 2 ABBBABBA wentA · keysB · breezeB · seasB · scentA · treesB · easeB · spentA
- 3 ---ABABCDDC said · tell · azrael · ourselvesA · foundB · shelvesA · boundB · brassC · dayD · awayD · massC
- 4 A-BCAABCDD charlemagneA · lowers · coastB · showersC · plainA · trainA · boastB · towersC · beganD · ranD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "O Edrehi, forbear to-night | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Your ghostly legends of affright, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And let the Talmud rest in peace; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Spare us your dismal tales of death | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That almost take away one's breath; | 8 | ·/··˘/·· |
| So doing, may your tribe increase." | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Thus the Sicilian said; then went | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And on the spinet's rattling keys | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Played Marianina, like a breeze | 8 | ········ |
| From Naples and the Southern seas, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That brings us the delicious scent | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Of citron and of orange trees, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And memories of soft days of ease | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| At Capri and Amalfi spent. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| "Not so," the eager Poet said; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| "At least, not so before I tell | 8 | ········ |
| The story of my Azrael, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| An angel mortal as ourselves, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Which in an ancient tome I found | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Upon a convent's dusty shelves, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Chained with an iron chain, and bound | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In parchment, and with clasps of brass, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Lest from its prison, some dark day, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| It might be stolen or steal away, | 9 | ···/˘··˘/ |
| While the good friars were singing mass. | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| "It is a tale of Charlemagne, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When like a thunder-cloud, that lowers | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| And sweeps from mountain-crest to coast, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With lightning flaming through its showers, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| He swept across the Lombard plain, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Beleaguering with his warlike train | 8 | ˘/˘··/·· |
| Pavia, the country's pride and boast, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| The City of the Hundred Towers." | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Thus heralded the tale began, | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘/ |
| And thus in sober measure ran. | 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.