A Song of the Degrees III
O glass subtly evil, O confusion of colours!O light bound and bent in, O soul of the captive,Why am I warned? Why am I sent away?Why is your glitter full of curious mistrust?O glass subtle and cunning, O powdery gold!O filaments of amber, two-faced iridescence!
Words in this poem
- subtly adv.
- In a subtle manner; slyly; artfully; cunningly.
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
- iridescence n.
- Exhibition of colors like those of the rainbow; the quality or state of being iridescent; a prismatic play of color; as, the iridescence of mother-of-pearl. [See Iridescent.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Song of the Degrees III is in the public domain. This text is taken from Lustra of Ezra Pound, Project Gutenberg ebook #55564; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ezra Pound, A Song of the Degrees III, in Lustra (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #55564, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pound-lustra/a-song-of-the-degrees-iii.html, id L01265.
Form and metre
A Song of the Degrees III is 6 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The lines average 12.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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.
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O glass subtly evil, O confusion of colours! | 14 | ··/˘˘/˘·˘/˘·/˘ |
| O light bound and bent in, O soul of the captive, | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| Why am I warned? Why am I sent away? | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Why is your glitter full of curious mistrust? | 12 | ···/˘··/˘˘˘/ |
| O glass subtle and cunning, O powdery gold! | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘˘· |
| O filaments of amber, two-faced iridescence! | 13 | ·/˘˘·/˘······ |
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.