Benjamin Fraser
Their spirits beat upon mineLike the wings of a thousand butterflies.I closed my eyes and felt their spirits vibrating.I closed my eyes, yet I knew when their lashesFringed their cheeks from downcast eyes,And when they turned their heads;And when their garments clung to them,Or fell from them, in exquisite draperies.Their spirits watched my ecstasyWith wide looks of starry unconcern.Their spirits looked upon my torture;They drank it as it were the water of life;With reddened cheeks, brightened eyes,The rising flame of my soul made their spirits gilt,Like the wings of a butterfly drifting suddenly into sunlight.And they cried to me for life, life, life.But in taking life for myself,In seizing and crushing their souls,As a child crushes grapes and drinksFrom its palms the purple juice,I came to this wingless void,Where neither red, nor gold, nor wine,Nor the rhythm of life are known.
Words in this poem
- clung a.
- Wasted away; shrunken. [Prop. p. p. fr. OE. clingen to wither. See Cling, v. i.]
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- unconcern n.
- Want of concern; absence of anxiety; freedom from solicitude; indifference.
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Benjamin Fraser is in the public domain. This text is taken from Spoon River Anthology, Project Gutenberg ebook #1280; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edgar Lee Masters, Benjamin Fraser, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/benjamin-fraser.html, id L07760.
Form and metre
Benjamin Fraser is 23 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.0 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% 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 AB-BB--B---CB--C-----A- mineA · butterfliesB · vibrating · lashesB · eyesB · heads · them · draperiesB · ecstasy · unconcern · torture · lifeC · eyesB · gilt · sunlight · lifeC · myself · souls · drinks · juice · void · wineA · known
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Their spirits beat upon mine | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Like the wings of a thousand butterflies. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| I closed my eyes and felt their spirits vibrating. | 12 | ·······/˘/˘˘ |
| I closed my eyes, yet I knew when their lashes | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Fringed their cheeks from downcast eyes, | 7 | ····/·· |
| And when they turned their heads; | 6 | ······ |
| And when their garments clung to them, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or fell from them, in exquisite draperies. | 11 | ·····/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Their spirits watched my ecstasy | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| With wide looks of starry unconcern. | 9 | ····/˘·˘/ |
| Their spirits looked upon my torture; | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| They drank it as it were the water of life; | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| With reddened cheeks, brightened eyes, | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| The rising flame of my soul made their spirits gilt, | 12 | ·/˘······/˘· |
| Like the wings of a butterfly drifting suddenly into sunlight. | 17 | ·····/˘·/˘/˘˘··/· |
| And they cried to me for life, life, life. | 9 | ········· |
| But in taking life for myself, | 8 | ··/˘···/ |
| In seizing and crushing their souls, | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| As a child crushes grapes and drinks | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| From its palms the purple juice, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| I came to this wingless void, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Where neither red, nor gold, nor wine, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Nor the rhythm of life are known. | 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.