Occidit
Autumnal breaks the flame upon the sun-set herds.The sheep on Gilead as tawn hair gleamNeath Mithra's dower and his slow departing,While in the sky a thousand fleece of goldBear, each his tribute, to the waning god.
Hung on the rafters of the effulgent west,Their tufted splendour shields his decadence,As in our southern lands brave tapestriesAre hung king-greeting from the ponticellsAnd drag the pageant from the earth to air,Wherein the storied figures live again,Wind-molden back unto their life's erst guise,All tremulous beneath the many-fingered breathThat Aufidus doth take to house his soul.
Words in this poem
- waning n.
- The act or process of waning, or decreasing.
- effulgent a.
- Diffusing a flood of light; shining; luminous; beaming; bright; splendid. [L. effulgens, -entis, p. pr. of effulgere.]
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
- decadence n.
- A falling away; decay; deterioration; declension. [LL. decadentia; L. de- + cadere to fall: cf. F. décadence. See Decay.]
- pageant n.
- A theatrical exhibition; a spectacle. [OE. pagent, pagen, originally, a movable scaffold or stage, hence, what was exhibited on it, fr. LL. pagina, akin to pangere to fasten; cf. L. pagina page, leaf]
- storied a.
- Told in a story. [From Story.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Occidit 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, Occidit, in Personae (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #41162, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pound-personae/occidit.html, id L01212.
Form and metre
Occidit is 14 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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.
- 2 --A---A-- west · decadence · tapestriesA · ponticells · air · again · guiseA · breath · soul
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Autumnal breaks the flame upon the sun-set herds. | 12 | ˘/˘········· |
| The sheep on Gilead as tawn hair gleam | 9 | ···˘/···· |
| Neath Mithra's dower and his slow departing, | 10 | ·/˘····˘/˘ |
| While in the sky a thousand fleece of gold | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Bear, each his tribute, to the waning god. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Hung on the rafters of the effulgent west, | 11 | ···/˘··˘/˘· |
| Their tufted splendour shields his decadence, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| As in our southern lands brave tapestries | 11 | ··/˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| Are hung king-greeting from the ponticells | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And drag the pageant from the earth to air, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Wherein the storied figures live again, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Wind-molden back unto their life's erst guise, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| All tremulous beneath the many-fingered breath | 10 | ·/˘···//˘· |
| That Aufidus doth take to house his soul. | 10 | ·········· |
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.