To Dives
Who am I to condemn you, O Dives,I who am as much embitteredWith povertyAs you are with useless riches?
Words in this poem
- dives n.
- The name popularly given to the rich man in our Lord's parable of the [L., rich.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Dives 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, To Dives, in Lustra (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #55564, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pound-lustra/to-dives.html, id L01275.
Form and metre
To Dives is 4 lines in a single stanza. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 3 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Who am I to condemn you, O Dives, | 9 | ····˘/··· |
| I who am as much embittered | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| With poverty | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| As you are with useless riches? | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
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.