Momus
“Where’s the need of singing now?”--Smooth your brow,Momus, and be reconciled,For King Kronos is a child--Child and father,Or god rather,And all gods are wild.
“Who reads Byron any more?”--Shut the door,Momus, for I feel a draught;Shut it quick, for some one laughed.--“What’s become ofBrowning? Some ofWordsworth lumbers like a raft?
“What are poets to find here?”--Have no fear:When the stars are shining blueThere will yet be left a fewThemes availing--And these failing,Momus, there’ll be you.
Words in this poem
- momus n.
- The god of mockery and censure.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Momus 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, Momus, in The Town Down the River (1910), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #76699, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/robinson-town-down-river/momus.html, id L17193.
Form and metre
Momus is 21 lines in 3 stanzas of 7 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABBCCB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.5 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% 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 AABB--B nowA · browA · reconciledB · childB · father · rather · wildB
- 2 AABBCCB moreA · doorA · draughtB · laughedB · ofC · ofC · raftB
- 3 AABBCCB hereA · fearA · blueB · fewB · availingC · failingC · youB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “Where’s the need of singing now?”-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Smooth your brow, | 3 | ··· |
| Momus, and be reconciled, | 8 | /˘··/˘·˘ |
| For King Kronos is a child-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Child and father, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Or god rather, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| And all gods are wild. | 5 | ····· |
| “Who reads Byron any more?”-- | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Shut the door, | 3 | ··· |
| Momus, for I feel a draught; | 7 | /˘····· |
| Shut it quick, for some one laughed.-- | 8 | ·······˘ |
| “What’s become of | 4 | ·˘/· |
| Browning? Some of | 4 | /˘·· |
| Wordsworth lumbers like a raft? | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| “What are poets to find here?”-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Have no fear: | 3 | ··· |
| When the stars are shining blue | 7 | ····/˘· |
| There will yet be left a few | 7 | ······· |
| Themes availing-- | 4 | ·˘/˘ |
| And these failing, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Momus, there’ll be you. | 6 | /˘/˘·· |
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.