Alma Mater
He knocked, and I beheld him at the door--A vision for the gods to verify.“What battered ancientry is this,” thought I,“And when, if ever, did we meet before?”But ask him as I might, I got no moreFor answer than a moaning and a cry:Too late to parley, but in time to die,He staggered, and lay shapeless on the floor.When had I known him? And what brought him here?Love, warning, malediction, hunger, fear?Surely I never thwarted such as he?--Again, what soiled obscurity was this:Out of what scum, and up from what abyss,Had they arrived--these rags of memory?
Words in this poem
- verify v. t.
- To prove to be true or correct; to establish the truth of; to confirm; to substantiate. [F. vérifier, LL. verificare, from L. verus true + -ficare to make. See Very, and -fy.]
- ancientry n.
- Antiquity; what is ancient.
- malediction n.
- A proclaiming of evil against some one; a cursing; imprecation; a curse or execration; -- opposed to benediction. [L. maledictio: cf. F. malédiction. See Maledicent.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Alma Mater is in the public domain. This text is taken from The town down the river, Project Gutenberg ebook #76699; 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, Alma Mater, in The Town Down the River (1910), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #76699, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/robinson-town-down-river/alma-mater.html, id L17209.
Form and metre
Alma Mater is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.7 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 7% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABBAABBACCBDD- doorA · verifyB · iB · beforeA · moreA · cryB · dieB · floorA · hereC · fearC · heB · thisD · abyssD · memory
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 |
|---|---|---|
| He knocked, and I beheld him at the door-- | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| A vision for the gods to verify. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| “What battered ancientry is this,” thought I, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| “And when, if ever, did we meet before?” | 9 | ···/····· |
| But ask him as I might, I got no more | 10 | ·········· |
| For answer than a moaning and a cry: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Too late to parley, but in time to die, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| He staggered, and lay shapeless on the floor. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| When had I known him? And what brought him here? | 10 | ·········· |
| Love, warning, malediction, hunger, fear? | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Surely I never thwarted such as he?-- | 9 | /˘·//˘··· |
| Again, what soiled obscurity was this: | 9 | ˘/··˘/˘·· |
| Out of what scum, and up from what abyss, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Had they arrived--these rags of memory? | 9 | ··˘/···/˘ |
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.