The Net of Vulcan
From peaks that clove the heavens asunderThe hunchback god with sooty clawsLoomed o'er the night, a cloud of thunder,And hurled the net of mortal laws;It flew, and all the world grew dimmer;Its blackness blotted out the stars,Then fell across the rosy glimmerThat told where Venus couched with Mars.
And, when the steeds that draw the morningSpurned from their Orient hooves the spray,All vainly soared the lavrock, warningThose tangled lovers of the day:Still with those twin white waves in blossom,Against the warrior's rock-broad breast,The netted light of the foam-born bosomBreathed like a sea at rest.
And light was all that followed after,Light the derision of the sky,Light the divine Olympian laughterOf kindlier gods in days gone by:Low to her lover whispered Venus,"The shameless net be praised for this--When night herself no more could screen usIt snared us one more hour of bliss."
Words in this poem
- hunchback n.
- A back with a hunch or hump; also, a hunchbacked person. [Cf. Humpback.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Net of Vulcan 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, The Net of Vulcan, in Collected Poems, Volume One (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #30501, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/noyes-collected/the-net-of-vulcan.html, id L21475.
Form and metre
The Net of Vulcan is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 ABABCDCD asunderA · clawsB · thunderA · lawsB · dimmerC · starsD · glimmerC · marsD
- 2 ABAB-C-C morningA · sprayB · warningA · dayB · blossom · breastC · bosom · restC
- 3 ABABCCCC afterA · skyB · laughterA · byB · venusC · thisC · usC · blissC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| From peaks that clove the heavens asunder | 10 | ·····/˘˘/˘ |
| The hunchback god with sooty claws | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Loomed o'er the night, a cloud of thunder, | 10 | ·˘······/˘ |
| And hurled the net of mortal laws; | 9 | ··˘···/˘· |
| It flew, and all the world grew dimmer; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Its blackness blotted out the stars, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Then fell across the rosy glimmer | 9 | ··˘/·/˘/˘ |
| That told where Venus couched with Mars. | 9 | ···/˘·˘·· |
| And, when the steeds that draw the morning | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Spurned from their Orient hooves the spray, | 10 | ·˘··/˘···· |
| All vainly soared the lavrock, warning | 10 | ·/˘·˘·/˘/˘ |
| Those tangled lovers of the day: | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘··· |
| Still with those twin white waves in blossom, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Against the warrior's rock-broad breast, | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| The netted light of the foam-born bosom | 10 | ·/˘·····/˘ |
| Breathed like a sea at rest. | 6 | ······ |
| And light was all that followed after, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Light the derision of the sky, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Light the divine Olympian laughter | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Of kindlier gods in days gone by: | 8 | ········ |
| Low to her lover whispered Venus, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| "The shameless net be praised for this-- | 9 | ·/˘···˘·· |
| When night herself no more could screen us | 9 | ··˘/····· |
| It snared us one more hour of bliss." | 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.