The Penalties of Rank
Three score and ten! A slave to office yet!In the Li Chi these luminous words befall:"The lust for honours honours not at all,"Here is the golden line we most forget.
Alas! how these long years afflict a man!When teeth are gone, and failing eyes grow dim.The morning dews brought dreams of fame to himWho bears in dusk the burdens of his clan.
His eyes still linger on the tassel blue,And still the red sedan of rank appeals,But his shrunk belly scarce the girdle feelsAs, bowed, he crawls the Prince's Gateway through.
Where is the man that would not wealth acclaim?Who would not truckle for his sovereign's grace?Yet years of high renown their furrows trace,And greatness overwhelms the weary frame.
The springs of laughter flow not from his heart,Where bide the dust and glamour of old days.Who walks alone in contemplation's ways?
Words in this poem
- lust v. i.
- To list; to like. [AS. lystan. See Lust, n., and cf. List to choose.]
- afflict v. t.
- To strike or cast down; to overthrow. [L. afflictus, p. p. of affigere to cast down, deject; ad + fligere to strike: cf. OF. aflit, afflict, p. p. Cf. Flagellate.]
- sedan n.
- A portable chair or covered vehicle for carrying a single person, -- usually borne on poles by two men. Called also sedan chair. [Said to be named from Sedan, in France, where it was first made, and whence it was introduced into England in the time of King Charles I.]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- acclaim v. i.
- To shout applause.
- truckle n.
- A small wheel or caster. Hudibras. [Dim. of truck a wheel; or from the kindred L. trochlea a block, sheaf containing one or more pulleys. See Truck a wheel.]
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
- glamour n.
- A charm affecting the eye, making objects appear different from what they really are. [Scot. glamour, glamer; cf. Icel. glámeggdr one who is troubled with the glaucoma; or Icel. glam-s weakness of sight, glamour; glamr name of the moon, also of a ]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Penalties of Rank is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Lute of Jade, Project Gutenberg ebook #390, the L. Cranmer-Byng translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Various, The Penalties of Rank, in A Lute of Jade (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #390, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lute-of-jade/the-penalties-of-rank.html, id L15607.
Form and metre
The Penalties of Rank is 19 lines in 5 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 10% 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 ABBA yetA · befallB · allB · forgetA
- 2 ABBA manA · dimB · himB · clanA
- 3 ABBA blueA · appealsB · feelsB · throughA
- 4 ABBA acclaimA · graceB · traceB · frameA
- 5 -AA heart · daysA · waysA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Three score and ten! A slave to office yet! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| In the Li Chi these luminous words befall: | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| "The lust for honours honours not at all," | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Here is the golden line we most forget. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Alas! how these long years afflict a man! | 10 | ˘/····˘/·· |
| When teeth are gone, and failing eyes grow dim. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The morning dews brought dreams of fame to him | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Who bears in dusk the burdens of his clan. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| His eyes still linger on the tassel blue, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And still the red sedan of rank appeals, | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| But his shrunk belly scarce the girdle feels | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| As, bowed, he crawls the Prince's Gateway through. | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| Where is the man that would not wealth acclaim? | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Who would not truckle for his sovereign's grace? | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Yet years of high renown their furrows trace, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| And greatness overwhelms the weary frame. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| The springs of laughter flow not from his heart, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Where bide the dust and glamour of old days. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Who walks alone in contemplation's ways? | 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.