Even Scales
The robber is robbed by his riches;The tyrant is dragged by his chain;The schemer is snared by his cunning;The slayer lies dead by the slain.
Words in this poem
- slayer n.
- One who slays; a killer; a murderer; a destrroyer of life.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Even Scales is in the public domain. This text is taken from Lincoln & other poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #54527; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edwin Markham, Even Scales, in Lincoln and Other Poems (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54527, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/markham-lincoln/even-scales.html, id L10807.
Form and metre
Even Scales is 4 lines in a single stanza. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter. 72% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 -A-A riches · chainA · cunning · slainA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The robber is robbed by his riches; | 10 | ·/˘··˘··/˘ |
| The tyrant is dragged by his chain; | 9 | ·/˘··˘··· |
| The schemer is snared by his cunning; | 10 | ·/˘··˘··/˘ |
| The slayer lies dead by the slain. | 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.