Mesmerism
Aye you're a man that! ye old mesmerizerTyin' your meanin' in seventy swadelin's,One must of needs be a hang'd early riserTo catch you at worm turning. Holy Odd's bodykins!
"Cat's i' the water butt!" Thought's in your verse-barrel,Tell us this thing rather, then we'll believe you,You, Master Bob Browning, spite your apparelJump to your sense and give praise as we'd lief do.
You wheeze as a head-cold long-tonsilled Calliope,But God! what a sight you ha' got o' our in'ards,Mad as a hatter but surely no Myope,Broad as all ocean and leanin' man-kin'ards.
Heart that was big as the bowels of Vesuvius,Words that were wing'd as her sparks in eruption,Eagled and thundered as Jupiter Pluvius,Sound in your wind past all signs o' corruption.
Here's to you, Old Hippety-hop o' the accents,True to the Truth's sake and crafty dissector,You grabbed at the gold sure; had no need to pack centsInto your versicles.Clear sight's elector!
Words in this poem
- mesmerizer n.
- One who mesmerizes.
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- riser n.
- One who rises; as, an early riser.
- wheeze v. i.
- To breathe hard, and with an audible piping or whistling sound, as persons affected with asthma. [OE. whesen, AS. hwsan (cf. Icel. hvæsa to hiss, Sw. hväsa, Dan. hvæse); akin to AS. hwsta a cough, D. hoest, G. husten, OHG. huosto, Icel. h, Lith. kosti to cou]
- calliope n.
- The Muse that presides over eloquence and heroic poetry; mother of Orpheus, and chief of the nine Muses.
- hatter v. t.
- To tire or worry; -- out. [Prov. E., to entangle; cf. LG. verhaddern, verheddern, verhiddern.]
- myope n.
- A person having myopy; a myops.
- dissector n.
- One who dissects; an anatomist. [Cf. F. dissecteur.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Mesmerism is in the public domain. This text is taken from Personae, Project Gutenberg ebook #41162; 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, Mesmerism, in Personae (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #41162, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pound-personae/mesmerism.html, id L01197.
Form and metre
Mesmerism is 21 lines in 5 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is dactylic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%). 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.7 syllables. 12 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in dactylic 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 ABAB mesmerizerA · swadelin'sB · riserA · bodykinsB
- 2 ABAB barrelA · youB · apparelA · doB
- 3 -A-A calliope · in'ardsA · myope · kin'ardsA
- 4 ABAB vesuviusA · eruptionB · pluviusA · corruptionB
- 5 ABA-B accentsA · dissectorB · centsA · versicles · electorB
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 dactylic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Aye you're a man that! ye old mesmerizer | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Tyin' your meanin' in seventy swadelin's, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| One must of needs be a hang'd early riser | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| To catch you at worm turning. Holy Odd's bodykins! | 13 | ·····/˘/˘···· |
| "Cat's i' the water butt!" Thought's in your verse-barrel, | 12 | ···/˘·····/˘ |
| Tell us this thing rather, then we'll believe you, | 11 | ····/˘··˘/· |
| You, Master Bob Browning, spite your apparel | 11 | ·/˘·/˘··˘/˘ |
| Jump to your sense and give praise as we'd lief do. | 11 | ··········· |
| You wheeze as a head-cold long-tonsilled Calliope, | 13 | ········˘˘/˘· |
| But God! what a sight you ha' got o' our in'ards, | 12 | ·········/·· |
| Mad as a hatter but surely no Myope, | 11 | ···/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Broad as all ocean and leanin' man-kin'ards. | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Heart that was big as the bowels of Vesuvius, | 12 | ······/˘·˘/˘ |
| Words that were wing'd as her sparks in eruption, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Eagled and thundered as Jupiter Pluvius, | 10 | /˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Sound in your wind past all signs o' corruption. | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Here's to you, Old Hippety-hop o' the accents, | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| True to the Truth's sake and crafty dissector, | 11 | ······/˘˘/˘ |
| You grabbed at the gold sure; had no need to pack cents | 12 | ············ |
| Into your versicles. | 5 | ····· |
| Clear sight's elector! | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
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.