Horace to Leuconoe
I pray you not, Leuconoe, to poreWith unpermitted eyes on what may beAppointed by the gods for you and me,Nor on Chaldean figures any more.'T were infinitely better to imploreThe present only: -- whether Jove decreeMore winters yet to come, or whether heMake even this, whose hard, wave-eaten shoreShatters the Tuscan seas to-day, the last --Be wise withal, and rack your wine, nor fillYour bosom with large hopes; for while I sing,The envious close of time is narrowing; --So seize the day, -- or ever it be past, --And let the morrow come for what it will.
Words in this poem
- chaldean a.
- Of or pertaining to Chaldea. [L. Chaldaeus.]
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- withal adv.
- With this; with that. [With + all.]
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
- narrowing n.
- The act of contracting, or of making or becoming less in breadth or extent.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Horace to Leuconoe is in the public domain. This text is taken from Children of the Night, Project Gutenberg ebook #313; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edwin Arlington Robinson, Horace to Leuconoe, in The Children of the Night (1897), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #313, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/robinson-children-of-night/horace-to-leuconoe.html, id L08011.
Form and metre
Horace to Leuconoe is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDEECD. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABBAABBACDEECD poreA · beB · meB · moreA · imploreA · decreeB · heB · shoreA · lastC · fillD · singE · narrowingE · pastC · willD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I pray you not, Leuconoe, to pore | 9 | ········· |
| With unpermitted eyes on what may be | 10 | ·········· |
| Appointed by the gods for you and me, | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| Nor on Chaldean figures any more. | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| 'T were infinitely better to implore | 10 | ··/˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| The present only: -- whether Jove decree | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| More winters yet to come, or whether he | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Make even this, whose hard, wave-eaten shore | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Shatters the Tuscan seas to-day, the last -- | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Be wise withal, and rack your wine, nor fill | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Your bosom with large hopes; for while I sing, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The envious close of time is narrowing; -- | 11 | ·/˘˘····/˘˘ |
| So seize the day, -- or ever it be past, -- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And let the morrow come for what it will. | 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.