Herman Altman
Did I follow Truth wherever she led,And stand against the whole world for a cause,And uphold the weak against the strong?If I did I would be remembered among menAs I was known in life among the people,And as I was hated and loved on earth,Therefore, build no monument to me,And carve no bust for me,Lest, though I become not a demi-god,The reality of my soul be lost,So that thieves and liars,Who were my enemies and destroyed me,And the children of thieves and liars,May claim me and affirm before my bustThat they stood with me in the days of my defeat.Build me no monumentLest my memory be perverted to the usesOf lying and oppression.My lovers and their children must not be dispossessed of me;I would be the untarnished possession foreverOf those for whom I lived.
Words in this poem
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- defeat v. t.
- To undo; to disfigure; to destroy. [From F. défait, OF. desfait, p. p. ofe défaire, OF. desfaire, to undo; L. dis- + facere to do. See Feat, Fact, and cf. Disfashion.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Herman Altman 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, Herman Altman, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/herman-altman.html, id L07932.
Form and metre
Herman Altman is 21 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%). 84% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.7 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 24% 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 ------AA--BAB-----A-- led · cause · strong · men · people · earth · meA · meA · god · lost · liarsB · meA · liarsB · bust · defeat · monument · uses · oppression · meA · forever · lived
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Did I follow Truth wherever she led, | 10 | ··/˘·˘/˘·· |
| And stand against the whole world for a cause, | 10 | ·········· |
| And uphold the weak against the strong? | 9 | ·˘/······ |
| If I did I would be remembered among men | 12 | ······˘/˘··· |
| As I was known in life among the people, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| And as I was hated and loved on earth, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Therefore, build no monument to me, | 9 | ····/˘˘·· |
| And carve no bust for me, | 6 | ······ |
| Lest, though I become not a demi-god, | 10 | ···˘/··/˘· |
| The reality of my soul be lost, | 10 | ·˘/˘˘····· |
| So that thieves and liars, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Who were my enemies and destroyed me, | 10 | ···/˘˘·˘/· |
| And the children of thieves and liars, | 9 | ··/˘···/˘ |
| May claim me and affirm before my bust | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| That they stood with me in the days of my defeat. | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| Build me no monument | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Lest my memory be perverted to the uses | 13 | ··/˘˘·˘/˘··/˘ |
| Of lying and oppression. | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| My lovers and their children must not be dispossessed of me; | 15 | ·/˘··/˘····˘/·· |
| I would be the untarnished possession forever | 13 | ·······˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Of those for whom I lived. | 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.