The Ashantee
No vision of exotic southern countries,No dancing women, supple, brown and tallWhirling from out their falling draperiesTo melodies that beat a fierce mad call;
No sound of songs that from the hot blood rise,No langorous, stretching, dusky, velvet maidsFlashing like gleaming weapon their bright eyes,No swift, wild thrill the quickening blood pervades.
Only mouths widening with a still broad smileOf comprehension, a strange knowing leerAt white men, at their vanity and guile,An understanding that fills one with fear.
The beasts in cages much more loyal are,Restlessly pacing, pacing to and fro,Dreaming of countries beckoning from afar,Lands where they roamed in days of long ago.
They burn with an unquenched and smothered fireConsumed by longings over which they brood,Oblivious of time, without desire,Alone and lost in their great solitude.
Words in this poem
- quickening n.
- The act or process of making or of becoming quick.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- oblivious a.
- Promoting oblivion; causing forgetfulness. [L.obliviosus: cf.F. oblivieux.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Ashantee is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, translated by Jessie Lemont, with an introduction by H.T. (New York: Tobias A. Wright, 1918), Project Gutenberg ebook #38594, the Jessie Lemont translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Rainer Maria Rilke, The Ashantee, in Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38594, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rilke-poems-lemont/the-ashantee.html, id L27743.
Form and metre
The Ashantee is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 countriesA · tallB · draperiesA · callB
- 2 ABAB riseA · maidsB · eyesA · pervadesB
- 3 ABAB smileA · leerB · guileA · fearB
- 4 ABAB areA · froB · afarA · agoB
- 5 ABAB fireA · broodB · desireA · solitudeB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| No vision of exotic southern countries, | 11 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| No dancing women, supple, brown and tall | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Whirling from out their falling draperies | 10 | /˘···/˘/˘˘ |
| To melodies that beat a fierce mad call; | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| No sound of songs that from the hot blood rise, | 10 | ·········· |
| No langorous, stretching, dusky, velvet maids | 11 | ····/˘/˘/˘· |
| Flashing like gleaming weapon their bright eyes, | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| No swift, wild thrill the quickening blood pervades. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Only mouths widening with a still broad smile | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Of comprehension, a strange knowing leer | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| At white men, at their vanity and guile, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| An understanding that fills one with fear. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| The beasts in cages much more loyal are, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Restlessly pacing, pacing to and fro, | 10 | /˘˘/˘/˘··· |
| Dreaming of countries beckoning from afar, | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Lands where they roamed in days of long ago. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| They burn with an unquenched and smothered fire | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Consumed by longings over which they brood, | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| Oblivious of time, without desire, | 11 | ˘/˘˘····˘/˘ |
| Alone and lost in their great solitude. | 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.