Gustav Richter
After a long day of work in my hot—housesSleep was sweet, but if you sleep on your left sideYour dreams may be abruptly ended.I was among my flowers where some oneSeemed to be raising them on trial,As if after-while to be transplantedTo a larger garden of freer air.And I was disembodied visionAmid a light, as it were the sunHad floated in and touched the roof of glassLike a toy balloon and softly bursted,And etherealized in golden air.And all was silence, except the splendorWas immanent with thought as clearAs a speaking voice, and I, as thought,Could hear a Presence think as he walkedBetween the boxes pinching off leaves,Looking for bugs and noting values,With an eye that saw it all:“Homer, oh yes! Pericles, good.Caesar Borgia, what shall be done with it?Dante, too much manure, perhaps.Napoleon, leave him awhile as yet.Shelley, more soil. Shakespeare, needs spraying—”Clouds, eh!—
Words in this poem
- freer n.
- One who frees, or sets free.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- napoleon n.
- A French gold coin of twenty francs, or about $3.86. [From the Emperor Napoleon 1.]
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Gustav Richter 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, Gustav Richter, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/gustav-richter.html, id L07957.
Form and metre
Gustav Richter is 25 lines in a single stanza. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.9 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 40% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 -AAB-ACBB--C-C----------- houses · sideA · endedA · oneB · trial · transplantedA · airC · visionB · sunB · glass · bursted · airC · splendor · clearC · thought · walked · leaves · values · all · good · it · perhaps · yet · spraying · eh
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 trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| After a long day of work in my hot—houses | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| Sleep was sweet, but if you sleep on your left side | 11 | ··········· |
| Your dreams may be abruptly ended. | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| I was among my flowers where some one | 9 | ·····/··· |
| Seemed to be raising them on trial, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| As if after-while to be transplanted | 10 | ·······˘/˘ |
| To a larger garden of freer air. | 10 | ··/˘/˘·/˘· |
| And I was disembodied vision | 9 | ···˘˘/˘/˘ |
| Amid a light, as it were the sun | 9 | ˘/······· |
| Had floated in and touched the roof of glass | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Like a toy balloon and softly bursted, | 10 | ···˘/·/˘/˘ |
| And etherealized in golden air. | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And all was silence, except the splendor | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
| Was immanent with thought as clear | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| As a speaking voice, and I, as thought, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Could hear a Presence think as he walked | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Between the boxes pinching off leaves, | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| Looking for bugs and noting values, | 9 | /˘···/˘/˘ |
| With an eye that saw it all: | 7 | ······· |
| “Homer, oh yes! Pericles, good. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Caesar Borgia, what shall be done with it? | 10 | /˘/˘······ |
| Dante, too much manure, perhaps. | 8 | /˘··˘/˘/ |
| Napoleon, leave him awhile as yet. | 9 | ˘/˘··˘/·· |
| Shelley, more soil. Shakespeare, needs spraying—” | 9 | /˘··/··/˘ |
| Clouds, eh!— | 2 | ·· |
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.