Moly
Traveller, pluck a stem of moly,If thou touch at Circe’s isle,--Hermes’ moly, growing solelyTo undo enchanter’s wile!When she proffers thee her chalice,--Wine and spices mixed with malice,--When she smites thee with her staffTo transform thee, do thou laugh!Safe thou art if thou but bearThe least leaf of moly rare.Close it grows beside her portal,Springing from a stock immortal,Yes! and often has the WitchSought to tear it from its niche;But to thwart her cruel willThe wise God renews it still.Though it grows in soil perverse,Heaven hath been its jealous nurse,And a flower of snowy markSprings from root and sheathing dark;Kingly safeguard, only herbThat can brutish passion curb!Some do think its name should beShield-Heart, White Integrity.Traveller, pluck a stem of moly,If thou touch at Circe’s isle,--Hermes’ moly, growing solelyTo undo enchanter’s wile!
Words in this poem
- moly n.
- A fabulous herb of occult power, having a black root and white blossoms, said by Homer to have been given by Hermes to Ulysses to counteract the spells of Circe.
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- wile n.
- A trick or stratagem practiced for insnaring or deception; a sly, insidious; artifice; a beguilement; an allurement. [OE. wile, AS. wil; cf. Icel. v, væl. Cf. Guile.]
- chalice n.
- A cup or bowl; especially, the cup used in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. [OR. chalis, calice, OF. chalice, calice, F. calice, fr. L. calix, akin to Gr. helmet. Cf. Calice, Calyx.]
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
- safeguard n.
- One who, or that which, defends or protects; defense; protection. [Safe = guard: cf. F. sauvegarde.]
- brutish a.
- Pertaining to, or resembling, a brute or brutes; of a cruel, gross, and stupid nature; coarse; unfeeling; unintelligent.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Moly is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, Moly, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/moly.html, id L25287.
Form and metre
Moly is 28 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 64% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic 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 ABCBDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLL--ABCB molyA · isleB · solelyC · wileB · chaliceD · maliceD · staffE · laughE · bearF · rareF · portalG · immortalG · witchH · nicheH · willI · stillI · perverseJ · nurseJ · markK · darkK · herbL · curbL · be · integrity · molyA · isleB · solelyC · wileB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Traveller, pluck a stem of moly, | 9 | /˘˘····/˘ |
| If thou touch at Circe’s isle,-- | 7 | ······· |
| Hermes’ moly, growing solely | 8 | /˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| To undo enchanter’s wile! | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘· |
| When she proffers thee her chalice,-- | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Wine and spices mixed with malice,-- | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| When she smites thee with her staff | 7 | ······· |
| To transform thee, do thou laugh! | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Safe thou art if thou but bear | 7 | ······· |
| The least leaf of moly rare. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Close it grows beside her portal, | 8 | ···˘/·/˘ |
| Springing from a stock immortal, | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| Yes! and often has the Witch | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Sought to tear it from its niche; | 7 | ······· |
| But to thwart her cruel will | 7 | ····/˘· |
| The wise God renews it still. | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Though it grows in soil perverse, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Heaven hath been its jealous nurse, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| And a flower of snowy mark | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| Springs from root and sheathing dark; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Kingly safeguard, only herb | 7 | /˘/·/˘· |
| That can brutish passion curb! | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Some do think its name should be | 7 | ······· |
| Shield-Heart, White Integrity. | 7 | ···˘/˘˘ |
| Traveller, pluck a stem of moly, | 9 | /˘˘····/˘ |
| If thou touch at Circe’s isle,-- | 7 | ······· |
| Hermes’ moly, growing solely | 8 | /˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| To undo enchanter’s wile! | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘· |
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.