The Spanish Dancer
As a lit match first flickers in the handsBefore it flames, and darts out from all sidesBright, twitching tongues, so, ringed by growing bandsOf spectators--she, quivering, glowing standsPoised tensely for the dance--then forward glides
And suddenly becomes a flaming torch.Her bright hair flames, her burning glances scorch,And with a daring art at her commandHer whole robe blazes like a fire-brandFrom which is stretched each naked arm, awake,Gleaming and rattling like a frightened snake.
And then, as though the fire fainter grows,She gathers up the flame--again it glows,As with proud gesture and imperious airShe flings it to the earth; and it lies thereFuriously flickering and crackling still--Then haughtily victorious, but with sweetSwift smile of greeting, she puts forth her willAnd stamps the flames out with her small firm feet.
Words in this poem
- scorch v. t.
- To burn superficially; to parch, or shrivel, the surface of, by heat; to subject to so much heat as changes color and texture without consuming; as, to scorch linen. [OE. scorchen, probably akin to scorcnen; cf. Norw. skrokken shrunk up, skrekka, skrökka, to shrink, to become wrinkled up, dial. Sw. skråkkla to wrinkle (see Sh]
- imperious a.
- Commanding; ascendant; imperial; lordly; majestic. [L. imperiosus: cf. F. impérieux. See Imperial.]
- haughtily adv.
- In a haughty manner; arrogantly. [From Haughty.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Spanish Dancer 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 Spanish Dancer, in Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38594, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rilke-poems-lemont/the-spanish-dancer.html, id L27758.
Form and metre
The Spanish Dancer is 19 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 63% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 ABAAB handsA · sidesB · bandsA · standsA · glidesB
- 2 AABBCC torchA · scorchA · commandB · brandB · awakeC · snakeC
- 3 AABBCDCD growsA · glowsA · airB · thereB · stillC · sweetD · willC · feetD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As a lit match first flickers in the hands | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Before it flames, and darts out from all sides | 10 | ·········· |
| Bright, twitching tongues, so, ringed by growing bands | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Of spectators--she, quivering, glowing stands | 10 | ·/˘·/˘˘/˘· |
| Poised tensely for the dance--then forward glides | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And suddenly becomes a flaming torch. | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/·/˘· |
| Her bright hair flames, her burning glances scorch, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And with a daring art at her command | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Her whole robe blazes like a fire-brand | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| From which is stretched each naked arm, awake, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Gleaming and rattling like a frightened snake. | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| And then, as though the fire fainter grows, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| She gathers up the flame--again it glows, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| As with proud gesture and imperious air | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| She flings it to the earth; and it lies there | 10 | ·········· |
| Furiously flickering and crackling still-- | 10 | /˘˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Then haughtily victorious, but with sweet | 10 | ·/˘˘/˘˘··· |
| Swift smile of greeting, she puts forth her will | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And stamps the flames out with her small firm feet. | 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.