Na Audiart
Though thou well dost wish me illAudiart, Audiart,Where thy bodice laces startAs ivy fingers clutching throughIts crevices,Audiart, Audiart,Stately, tall and lovely tenderWho shall renderAudiart, AudiartPraises meet unto thy fashion?Here a word kiss!Pass I onUnto Lady "Miels-de-Ben,"Having praised thy girdle's scopeHow the stays ply back from it;I breathe no hopeThat thou shouldst....Nay no whitBespeak thyself for anything.Just a word in thy praise, girl,Just for the swirlThy satins make upon the stair,'Cause never a flaw was thereWhere thy torse and limbs are met:Though thou hate me, read it setIn rose and gold.Or when the minstrel, tale half told,Shall burst to lilting at the phrase"Audiart, Audiart"....Bertrans, master of his lays,Bertrans of Aultaforte thy praiseSets forth, and though thou hate me well,Yea though thou wish me illAudiart, Audiart.Thy loveliness is here writ till,Audiart,Oh, till thou come again.And being bent and wrinkled, in a formThat hath no perfect limning, when the warmYouth dew is coldUpon thy hands, and thy old soulScorning a new, wry'd casementChurlish at seemed misplacementFinds the earth as bitterAs now seems it sweet,Being so young and fairAs then only in dreams,Being then young and wry'd,Broken of ancient pride,Thou shalt then soften,Knowing I know not howThou wert once sheAudiart, AudiartFor whose fairness one forgaveAudiart, AudiartQue be-m vols mal.
Towards the Noel that morte saison(Christ make the shepherds' homage dear!)Then when the grey wolves everychoneDrink of the winds their chill small-beerAnd lap o' the snows food's gueredonThen makyth my heart his yule-tide cheer(Skoal! with the dregs if the clear be gone!)Wineing the ghosts of yester-year.
Ask ye what ghosts I dream upon?(What of the magians' scented gear?)The ghosts of dead loves everyoneThat make the stark winds reek with fearLest love return with the foison sunAnd slay the memories that me cheer(Such as I drink to mine fashion)Wineing the ghosts of yester-year.
Where are the joys my heart had won?(Saturn and Mars to Zeus drawn near!)Where are the lips mine lay upon,Aye! where are the glances feat and clearThat bade my heart his valour don?I skoal to the eyes as grey-blown mere(Who knows whose was that paragon?)Wineing the ghosts of yester-year.
Prince: ask me not what I have doneNor what God hath that can me cheerBut ye ask first where the winds are goneWineing the ghosts of yester-year.
Words in this poem 16
- bodice n.
- A kind of under waist stiffened with whalebone, etc., worn esp. by women; a corset; stays. [This is properly the plural of body, Oe. bodise a pair of bodies, equiv. to a bodice. Cf. Corset, and see Body.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- whit n.
- The smallest part or particle imaginable; a bit; a jot; an iota; -- generally used in an adverbial phrase in a negative sentence. [OE. wight, wiht, AS. wiht a creature, a thing. See Wight, and cf. Aught, Naught.]
- bespeak v. t.
- To speak or arrange for beforehand; to order or engage against a future time; as, to bespeak goods, a right, or a favor. [OE. bispeken, AS. besprecan, to speak to, accuse; pref. be- + sprecan to speak. See Speak.]
- swirl v. t.
- To whirl, or cause to whirl, as in an eddy. [Akin to Norw. svirla to whirl, freq. of sverra to whirl, Dan. svirre, G. schwirren to whiz, to buzz. *177. See Swarm, n.]
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- limning n.
- The act, process, or art of one who limns; the picture or decoration so produced.
- casement n.
- A window sash opening on hinges affixed to the upright side of the frame into which it is fitted. (Poetically) A window. [Shortened fr. encasement. See Incase 1st Case, and cf. Incasement.]
- misplacement n.
- The act of misplacing, or the state of being misplaced.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- everyone n.
- Everybody; -- commonly separated, every one. [OE. everychon.]
- stark adv.
- Wholly; entirely; absolutely; quite; as, stark mind.
- reek n.
- A rick. B. Jonson.
- foison n.
- Rich harvest; plenty; abundance. Lowell. [F. foison, fr. L. fusio a pouring, effusion. See Fusion.]
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- paragon n.
- A companion; a match; an equal.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Na Audiart 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, Na Audiart, in Personae (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #41162, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pound-personae/na-audiart.html, id L01195.
Form and metre
Na Audiart is 84 lines in 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 51% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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 -AA--ABB-C-CCDED-E-FFGGHHIIJ-JJ-K-K--LL--MM------------- ill · audiartA · startA · through · crevices · audiartA · tenderB · renderB · audiart · fashionC · kiss · onC · benC · scopeD · itE · hopeD · shouldst · whitE · anything · girlF · swirlF · stairG · thereG · metH · setH · goldI · toldI · phraseJ · audiart · laysJ · praiseJ · well · illK · audiart · tillK · audiart · again · formL · warmL · cold · soul · casementM · misplacementM · bitter · sweet · fair · dreams · wry'd · pride · soften · how · she · audiart · forgave · audiart · mal
- 2 -ABABA-A saison · dearA · everychoneB · beerA · gueredonB · cheerA · gone · yearA
- 3 -ABABABA upon · gearA · everyoneB · fearA · sunB · cheerA · fashionB · yearA
- 4 ABABABAB wonA · nearB · uponA · clearB · donA · mereB · paragonA · yearB
- 5 -A-A done · cheerA · gone · yearA
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 iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Though thou well dost wish me ill | 7 | ······· |
| Audiart, Audiart, | 4 | ···· |
| Where thy bodice laces start | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| As ivy fingers clutching through | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Its crevices, | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| Audiart, Audiart, | 4 | ···· |
| Stately, tall and lovely tender | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Who shall render | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Audiart, Audiart | 4 | ···· |
| Praises meet unto thy fashion? | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Here a word kiss! | 4 | ···· |
| Pass I on | 3 | ··· |
| Unto Lady "Miels-de-Ben," | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Having praised thy girdle's scope | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| How the stays ply back from it; | 7 | ······· |
| I breathe no hope | 4 | ···· |
| That thou shouldst.... | 3 | ··· |
| Nay no whit | 3 | ··· |
| Bespeak thyself for anything. | 8 | ˘/˘/·/˘· |
| Just a word in thy praise, girl, | 7 | ······· |
| Just for the swirl | 4 | ···· |
| Thy satins make upon the stair, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| 'Cause never a flaw was there | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Where thy torse and limbs are met: | 7 | ······· |
| Though thou hate me, read it set | 7 | ······· |
| In rose and gold. | 4 | ···· |
| Or when the minstrel, tale half told, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Shall burst to lilting at the phrase | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| "Audiart, Audiart".... | 4 | ···· |
| Bertrans, master of his lays, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Bertrans of Aultaforte thy praise | 8 | /˘······ |
| Sets forth, and though thou hate me well, | 8 | ········ |
| Yea though thou wish me ill | 6 | ······ |
| Audiart, Audiart. | 4 | ···· |
| Thy loveliness is here writ till, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Audiart, | 2 | ·· |
| Oh, till thou come again. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| And being bent and wrinkled, in a form | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| That hath no perfect limning, when the warm | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| Youth dew is cold | 4 | ···· |
| Upon thy hands, and thy old soul | 8 | ········ |
| Scorning a new, wry'd casement | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| Churlish at seemed misplacement | 7 | /˘··˘/˘ |
| Finds the earth as bitter | 6 | ····/˘ |
| As now seems it sweet, | 5 | ····· |
| Being so young and fair | 6 | /˘···· |
| As then only in dreams, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Being then young and wry'd, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Broken of ancient pride, | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Thou shalt then soften, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Knowing I know not how | 6 | /˘···· |
| Thou wert once she | 4 | ···· |
| Audiart, Audiart | 4 | ···· |
| For whose fairness one forgave | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Audiart, Audiart | 4 | ···· |
| Que be-m vols mal. | 5 | ····· |
| Towards the Noel that morte saison | 9 | ···˘/··/˘ |
| (Christ make the shepherds' homage dear!) | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Then when the grey wolves everychone | 9 | ········· |
| Drink of the winds their chill small-beer | 8 | ········ |
| And lap o' the snows food's gueredon | 9 | ········· |
| Then makyth my heart his yule-tide cheer | 9 | ········· |
| (Skoal! with the dregs if the clear be gone!) | 9 | ········· |
| Wineing the ghosts of yester-year. | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Ask ye what ghosts I dream upon? | 8 | ········ |
| (What of the magians' scented gear?) | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The ghosts of dead loves everyone | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That make the stark winds reek with fear | 8 | ········ |
| Lest love return with the foison sun | 9 | ··˘/··/˘· |
| And slay the memories that me cheer | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| (Such as I drink to mine fashion) | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Wineing the ghosts of yester-year. | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Where are the joys my heart had won? | 8 | ········ |
| (Saturn and Mars to Zeus drawn near!) | 8 | /˘······ |
| Where are the lips mine lay upon, | 8 | ········ |
| Aye! where are the glances feat and clear | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| That bade my heart his valour don? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I skoal to the eyes as grey-blown mere | 9 | ········· |
| (Who knows whose was that paragon?) | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Wineing the ghosts of yester-year. | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Prince: ask me not what I have done | 8 | ········ |
| Nor what God hath that can me cheer | 8 | ········ |
| But ye ask first where the winds are gone | 9 | ········· |
| Wineing the ghosts of yester-year. | 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.