The Captured Goddess
Over the housetops,Above the rotating chimney-pots,I have seen a shiver of amethyst,And blue and cinnamon have flickeredA moment,At the far end of a dusty street.
Through sheeted rainHas come a lustre of crimson,And I have watched moonbeamsHushed by a film of palest green.
It was her wings,Goddess!Who stepped over the clouds,And laid her rainbow feathersAslant on the currents of the air.
I followed her for long,With gazing eyes and stumbling feet.I cared not where she led me,My eyes were full of colours:Saffrons, rubies, the yellows of beryls,And the indigo-blue of quartz;Flights of rose, layers of chrysoprase,Points of orange, spirals of vermilion,The spotted gold of tiger-lily petals,The loud pink of bursting hydrangeas.I followed,And watched for the flashing of her wings.
In the city I found her,The narrow-streeted city.In the market-place I came upon her,Bound and trembling.Her fluted wings were fastened to her sides with cords,She was naked and cold,For that day the wind blewWithout sunshine.
Men chaffered for her,They bargained in silver and gold,In copper, in wheat,And called their bids across the market-place.The Goddess wept.
Hiding my face I fled,And the grey wind hissed behind me,Along the narrow streets.
Words in this poem
- chimney n.
- A fireplace or hearth. Sir W. Raleigh.
- amethyst
- A variety of crystallized quartz, of a purple or bluish violet color, of different shades. It is much used as a jeweler's stone. [F. ametiste, amatiste, F. améthyste, L. amethystus, fr. Gr. Mead.]
- lustre n.
- A period of five years; a lustrum. [L. lustrum: cf. F. lustre.]
- aslant adv.
- Toward one side; in a slanting direction; obliquely. [Pref. a- + slant.]
- yellows n.
- A disease of the bile in horses, cattle, and sheep, causing yellowness of the eyes; jaundice.
- chrysoprase n.
- An apple-green variety of chalcedony, colored by nickel. It has a dull flinty luster, and is sometimes used in jewelry.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Captured Goddess is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sword Blades and Poppy Seed, Project Gutenberg ebook #1020; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Amy Lowell, The Captured Goddess, in Sword Blades and Poppy Seed (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1020, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lowell-amy-sword-blades/the-captured-goddess.html, id L08200.
Form and metre
The Captured Goddess is 43 lines in 7 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 14 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 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.
- 2 AA-A rainA · crimsonA · moonbeams · greenA
- 5 A-A----- herA · city · herA · trembling · cords · cold · blew · sunshine
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Over the housetops, | 6 | ······ |
| Above the rotating chimney-pots, | 9 | ···/·˘/˘· |
| I have seen a shiver of amethyst, | 10 | ····/˘·/˘˘ |
| And blue and cinnamon have flickered | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| A moment, | 3 | ·/˘ |
| At the far end of a dusty street. | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Through sheeted rain | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Has come a lustre of crimson, | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| And I have watched moonbeams | 6 | ····/· |
| Hushed by a film of palest green. | 9 | ·˘····/˘· |
| It was her wings, | 4 | ···· |
| Goddess! | 2 | /˘ |
| Who stepped over the clouds, | 6 | ······ |
| And laid her rainbow feathers | 7 | ···/·/˘ |
| Aslant on the currents of the air. | 9 | ˘/··/˘··· |
| I followed her for long, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| With gazing eyes and stumbling feet. | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
| I cared not where she led me, | 7 | ······· |
| My eyes were full of colours: | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Saffrons, rubies, the yellows of beryls, | 10 | /˘/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| And the indigo-blue of quartz; | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Flights of rose, layers of chrysoprase, | 9 | ···/˘·/˘˘ |
| Points of orange, spirals of vermilion, | 10 | ··/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| The spotted gold of tiger-lily petals, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘/˘/˘ |
| The loud pink of bursting hydrangeas. | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| I followed, | 3 | ·/˘ |
| And watched for the flashing of her wings. | 10 | ··˘··/˘··· |
| In the city I found her, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| The narrow-streeted city. | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| In the market-place I came upon her, | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| Bound and trembling. | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
| Her fluted wings were fastened to her sides with cords, | 12 | ·/˘··/˘····· |
| She was naked and cold, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| For that day the wind blew | 6 | ······ |
| Without sunshine. | 4 | ··/· |
| Men chaffered for her, | 5 | ····· |
| They bargained in silver and gold, | 9 | ·/˘˘·/˘·· |
| In copper, in wheat, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| And called their bids across the market-place. | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| The Goddess wept. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Hiding my face I fled, | 6 | /˘···· |
| And the grey wind hissed behind me, | 9 | ·····˘··· |
| Along the narrow streets. | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
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.