Art (Imitated from De Banville and Gautier) II
When Beauty from the sea,With breasts of whiter roseThan weBehold on earth, arose.
Naked thro' Time returnedThe Bliss of Heaven that day,And burnedThe dross of earth away.
Kings at her splendour quailed.For all his triple steelShe haledWar at her chariot-wheel.
The rose and lily bowedTo cast, of odour sweetA cloudBefore her wandering feet.
And from her radiant eyesThere shone on soul and senseThe skies'Divine indifference.
O, mortal memory fond!Slowly she passed awayBeyondThe curling clouds of day.
Return, we cry, return,Till in the sadder lightWe learnThat she was infinite.
The Dream that from the seaWith breasts of whiter roseThan weBehold on earth, arose.
Words in this poem
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
- odour n.
- Any smell, whether fragrant or offensive; scent; perfume. [OE. odor, odour, OF. odor, odour, F. odeur, fr. L. odor; akin to olere to smell, Gr. Olfactory, Osmium, Ozone, Redolent.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Art (Imitated from De Banville and Gautier) II is in the public domain. This text is taken from Collected Poems: Volume One, Project Gutenberg ebook #30501; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Alfred Noyes, Art (Imitated from De Banville and Gautier) II, in Collected Poems, Volume One (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #30501, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/noyes-collected/art-imitated-from-de-banville-and-gautier-ii.html, id L21392.
Form and metre
Art (Imitated from De Banville and Gautier) II is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABAB seaA · roseB · weA · aroseB
- 2 ABAB returnedA · dayB · burnedA · awayB
- 3 ABAB quailedA · steelB · haledA · wheelB
- 4 ABAB bowedA · sweetB · cloudA · feetB
- 5 ABAB eyesA · senseB · skiesA · indifferenceB
- 6 ABAB fondA · awayB · beyondA · dayB
- 7 ABAB returnA · lightB · learnA · infiniteB
- 8 ABAB seaA · roseB · weA · aroseB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When Beauty from the sea, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| With breasts of whiter rose | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Than we | 2 | ·· |
| Behold on earth, arose. | 6 | ˘/··˘/ |
| Naked thro' Time returned | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| The Bliss of Heaven that day, | 6 | ···/·· |
| And burned | 2 | ·· |
| The dross of earth away. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Kings at her splendour quailed. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| For all his triple steel | 6 | ···/˘· |
| She haled | 2 | ·· |
| War at her chariot-wheel. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The rose and lily bowed | 6 | ···/˘· |
| To cast, of odour sweet | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A cloud | 2 | ·· |
| Before her wandering feet. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And from her radiant eyes | 6 | ···/˘· |
| There shone on soul and sense | 6 | ······ |
| The skies' | 2 | ·· |
| Divine indifference. | 6 | ˘/˘/˘˘ |
| O, mortal memory fond! | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Slowly she passed away | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| Beyond | 2 | ·· |
| The curling clouds of day. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Return, we cry, return, | 6 | ˘/··˘/ |
| Till in the sadder light | 6 | ···/˘· |
| We learn | 2 | ·· |
| That she was infinite. | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| The Dream that from the sea | 6 | ······ |
| With breasts of whiter rose | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Than we | 2 | ·· |
| Behold on earth, arose. | 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.