Homage to Quintus Septimius Florentis Christianus II
This place is the Cyprian’s, for she has ever the fancyTo be looking out across the bright sea,Therefore the sailors are cheered, and the wavesKeep small with reverence, beholding her image.
Words in this poem
- beholding a.
- Obliged; beholden.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Homage to Quintus Septimius Florentis Christianus II 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, Homage to Quintus Septimius Florentis Christianus II, in Lustra (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #55564, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pound-lustra/homage-to-quintus-septimius-florentis-christianus-ii.html, id L01330.
Form and metre
Homage to Quintus Septimius Florentis Christianus II is 4 lines in a single stanza. The lines average 11.8 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 |
|---|---|---|
| This place is the Cyprian’s, for she has ever the fancy | 15 | ····/˘˘···/˘·/˘ |
| To be looking out across the bright sea, | 10 | ··/˘·˘/··· |
| Therefore the sailors are cheered, and the waves | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Keep small with reverence, beholding her image. | 12 | ···/˘˘˘/˘·/˘ |
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.