Oimè, Oimè!
I wonder why the wind, even the wind doth seemTo mock me now, all night, all night, andHave I strayed among the cliffs hereThey say, some day I'll fallDown through the sea-bit fissures, and no moreKnow the warm cloak of sun, or batheThe dew across my tired eyes to comfort them.They try to keep me hid within four walls.I will not stay!Oimè!And the wind saith; Oimè!
I am quite tired now. I know the grassMust grow somewhere along this Thracian coast,If only he would come some little while and find it me.
Words in this poem
- saith
- 3d pers. sing. pres. of Say.
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
- thracian a.
- Of or pertaining to Thrace, or its people.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Oimè, Oimè! 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, Oimè, Oimè!, in Personae (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #41162, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pound-personae/oim-oim.html, id L01216.
Form and metre
Oimè, Oimè! is 14 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 seem · and · here · fall · more · bathe · them · walls · stay · oimèA · oimèA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I wonder why the wind, even the wind doth seem | 11 | ·/˘···/···· |
| To mock me now, all night, all night, and | 9 | ········· |
| Have I strayed among the cliffs here | 9 | ···˘····· |
| They say, some day I'll fall | 6 | ······ |
| Down through the sea-bit fissures, and no more | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Know the warm cloak of sun, or bathe | 8 | ········ |
| The dew across my tired eyes to comfort them. | 11 | ··˘/·/··/˘· |
| They try to keep me hid within four walls. | 10 | ·········· |
| I will not stay! | 4 | ···· |
| Oimè! | 1 | · |
| And the wind saith; Oimè! | 5 | ····· |
| I am quite tired now. I know the grass | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Must grow somewhere along this Thracian coast, | 10 | ··/·˘/·/˘· |
| If only he would come some little while and find it me. | 14 | ·/˘····/˘····· |
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.