Becalmed
The flag is listless, limp. It dances not.As deep the sea breathes from a gentle breastAs any bride who dreams at love's behest,And wakes and sighs, then casts with dreams her lot.Sails hang upon the masts--useless-forgot--Like folded standards which the warriors wrestAnd bring home broken from the battle's crest.The sailors rest them in some sheltered spot.
O Sea! within your unknown deeps concealed,When storms are wild, your monsters dream and sleep,And all their cruelty for the sunlight keep.Thus, Soul of Mine, in your sad deeps concealedThe monsters sleep--when wild are storms. They startFrom out some blue sky's peace to seize my heart.
Words in this poem
- listless a.
- Having no desire or inclination; indifferent; heedless; spiritless. [OE. listles, lustles. See Lust.]
- behest v. t.
- To vow. Paston.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Becalmed is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets from the Crimea, Project Gutenberg ebook #27069, the Edna Worthley Underwood translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Adam Mickiewicz, Becalmed, in Sonnets from the Crimea (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27069, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mickiewicz-crimea/becalmed.html, id L15529.
Form and metre
Becalmed is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 29% 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 ABBAABBA notA · breastB · behestB · lotA · forgotA · wrestB · crestB · spotA
- 2 ABBACC concealedA · sleepB · keepB · concealedA · startC · heartC
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 flag is listless, limp. It dances not. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| As deep the sea breathes from a gentle breast | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| As any bride who dreams at love's behest, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| And wakes and sighs, then casts with dreams her lot. | 10 | ·········· |
| Sails hang upon the masts--useless-forgot-- | 10 | ······/˘˘/ |
| Like folded standards which the warriors wrest | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And bring home broken from the battle's crest. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The sailors rest them in some sheltered spot. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| O Sea! within your unknown deeps concealed, | 10 | ·····˘/·˘/ |
| When storms are wild, your monsters dream and sleep, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And all their cruelty for the sunlight keep. | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| Thus, Soul of Mine, in your sad deeps concealed | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The monsters sleep--when wild are storms. They start | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| From out some blue sky's peace to seize my heart. | 10 | ·········· |
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.