John Cabanis
Neither spite, fellow citizens,Nor forgetfulness of the shiftlessness.And the lawlessness and wasteUnder democracy’s rule in Spoon RiverMade me desert the party of law and orderAnd lead the liberal party.Fellow citizens! I saw as one with second sightThat every man of the millions of menWho give themselves to Freedom,And fail while Freedom fails,Enduring waste and lawlessness,And the rule of the weak and the blind,Dies in the hope of building earth,Like the coral insect, for the templeTo stand on at the last.And I swear that Freedom will wage to the endThe war for making every soulWise and strong and as fit to ruleAs Plato’s lofty guardiansIn a world republic girdled!
Words in this poem
- wage v. i.
- To bind one's self; to engage.
- republic n.
- Common weal. B. Jonson. [F. république, L. respublica commonwealth; res a thing, an affair + publicus, publica, public. See Real, a., and Public.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
John Cabanis 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, John Cabanis, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/john-cabanis.html, id L07848.
Form and metre
John Cabanis is 20 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%). 86% 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. 50% 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 -------------A--AA-- citizens · shiftlessness · waste · river · order · party · sight · men · freedom · fails · lawlessness · blind · earth · templeA · last · end · soulA · ruleA · guardians · girdled
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Neither spite, fellow citizens, | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| Nor forgetfulness of the shiftlessness. | 10 | ·˘/˘˘····· |
| And the lawlessness and waste | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| Under democracy’s rule in Spoon River | 11 | ··˘/˘˘···/˘ |
| Made me desert the party of law and order | 12 | ··/˘·/˘···/˘ |
| And lead the liberal party. | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| Fellow citizens! I saw as one with second sight | 13 | /˘/˘˘·····/˘· |
| That every man of the millions of men | 11 | ·/˘˘···/˘·· |
| Who give themselves to Freedom, | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| And fail while Freedom fails, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Enduring waste and lawlessness, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| And the rule of the weak and the blind, | 9 | ········· |
| Dies in the hope of building earth, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Like the coral insect, for the temple | 10 | ··/˘/···/˘ |
| To stand on at the last. | 6 | ······ |
| And I swear that Freedom will wage to the end | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| The war for making every soul | 9 | ···/˘/˘˘· |
| Wise and strong and as fit to rule | 8 | ········ |
| As Plato’s lofty guardians | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| In a world republic girdled! | 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.