Laurel · George Santayana · Poems

Art

George Santayana (1863–1952) · 1922

short measure · 60 lines · from Poems

All things are doubly fairIf patience fashion themAnd care--Verse, enamel, marble, gem.

No idle chains endure:Yet, Muse, to walk aright,Lace tightThy buskin proud and sure.

Fie on a facile measure,A shoe where every loutAt pleasureSlips his foot in and out!

Sculptor, lay by the clayOn which thy nerveless fingerMay linger,Thy thoughts flown far away.

Keep to Carrara rare,Struggle with Paros cold,That holdThe subtle line and fair.

Lest haply nature loseThat proud, that perfect line,Make thineThe bronze of Syracuse.

And with a tender dreadUpon an agate's faceRetraceApollo's golden head.

Despise a watery hueAnd tints that soon expire.With fireBurn thine enamel true.

Twine, twine in artful wiseThe blue-green mermaid's arms,Mid charmsOf thousand heraldries.

Show in their triple lobeVirgin and Child, that holdTheir globe,Cross-crowned and aureoled.

--All things return to dustSave beauties fashioned well.The bustOutlasts the citadel.

Oft doth the ploughman's heel,Breaking an ancient clod,RevealA Caesar or a god.

The gods, too, die, alas!But deathless and more strongThan brassRemains the sovereign song.

Chisel and carve and file,Till thy vague dream imprintIts smileOn the unyielding flint.

An Essay on the work of GEORGE SANTAYANA, written byEDMUND GOSSE, is, with the kind permission of the authorand the proprietors of the Sunday Times, reprintedoverleaf.

Words in this poem

aright adv.: Rightly; correctly; in a right way or form; without mistake or crime; as, to worship God aright. [Pref. a- + right.]
buskin n.: A strong, protecting covering for the foot, coming some distance up the leg. [Prob. from OF. brossequin, or D. broosken. See Brodekin.]
facile a.: Easy to be done or performed: not difficult; performable or attainable with little labor. [L. facilis, prop., capable of being done or made, hence, facile, easy, fr. facere to make, do: cf. F. facile. Srr Fact, and cf. Faculty.]
sculptor n.: One who sculptures; one whose occupation is to carve statues, or works of sculpture. [L. sculptor, fr. sculpere, sculptum, to carve; cf. scalpere to cut, carve, scratch, and Gr. sculpteur.]
nerveless a.: Destitute of nerves.
flown a.: Flushed, inflated.
haply adv.: By hap, chance, luck, or accident; perhaps; it may be.
syracuse n.: A red wine of Italy.
retrace v. t.: To trace back, as a line. [Pref. re- + trace: cf. F. retracer. Cf. Retract.]
despise v. t.: To look down upon with disfavor or contempt; to contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of. [OF. despis-, in some forms of despire to despise, fr. L. despicere, despectum, to look down upon, despise; de- + spicere, specere, to look. See Spy, and cf. Des]
artful a.: Performed with, or characterized by, art or skill. [From Art.]
clod n.: A lump or mass, especially of earth, turf, or clay. [OE. clodde, latter form of clot. See Clot.]
deathless a.: Not subject to death, destruction, or extinction; immortal; undying; imperishable; as, deathless beings; deathless fame.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Art is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #49721; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: George Santayana, Art, in Poems (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49721, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/santayana-poems/art.html, id L21755.

Form and metre

Art is 60 lines in 15 stanzas of 4 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 7 of the 15 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is short measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).

See other poems in short measure.

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 fair^A · them^B · care^A · gem^B
2 ABBA endure^A · aright^B · tight^B · sure^A
3 ABAB measure^A · lout^B · pleasure^A · out^B
4 ABBA clay^A · finger^B · linger^B · away^A
5 ABBA rare^A · cold^B · hold^B · fair^A
6 ABBA lose^A · line^B · thine^B · syracuse^A
7 ABBA dread^A · face^B · retrace^B · head^A
8 ABBA hue^A · expire^B · fire^B · true^A
9 ABBA wise^A · arms^B · charms^B · heraldries^A
10 ABAB lobe^A · hold^B · globe^A · aureoled^B
11 ABAB dust^A · well^B · bust^A · citadel^B
12 ABAB heel^A · clod^B · reveal^A · god^B
13 ABAB alas^A · strong^B · brass^A · song^B
14 ABAB file^A · imprint^B · smile^A · flint^B

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 short measure. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
All things are doubly fair	6	···/˘·
If patience fashion them	6	·/˘/˘·
And care--	2	··
Verse, enamel, marble, gem.	7	·˘/˘/˘·
No idle chains endure:	6	·/˘·˘/
Yet, Muse, to walk aright,	6	····˘/
Lace tight	2	··
Thy buskin proud and sure.	6	·/˘···
Fie on a facile measure,	7	···/˘/˘
A shoe where every lout	6	···/˘·
At pleasure	3	·/˘
Slips his foot in and out!	6	······
Sculptor, lay by the clay	6	/˘····
On which thy nerveless finger	7	···/˘/˘
May linger,	3	·/˘
Thy thoughts flown far away.	6	····˘/
Keep to Carrara rare,	6	···/˘·
Struggle with Paros cold,	6	/˘·/˘·
That hold	2	··
The subtle line and fair.	6	·/˘···
Lest haply nature lose	6	·/˘/˘·
That proud, that perfect line,	6	···˘/·
Make thine	2	··
The bronze of Syracuse.	6	···/˘·
And with a tender dread	6	···/˘·
Upon an agate's face	6	···/˘·
Retrace	2	˘/
Apollo's golden head.	6	˘/˘/˘·
Despise a watery hue	6	˘/·/˘·
And tints that soon expire.	6	····˘/
With fire	3	·/˘
Burn thine enamel true.	6	··˘/˘·
Twine, twine in artful wise	6	···/˘·
The blue-green mermaid's arms,	6	···/··
Mid charms	2	··
Of thousand heraldries.	6	·/˘/˘˘
Show in their triple lobe	6	···/˘·
Virgin and Child, that hold	6	/˘····
Their globe,	2	··
Cross-crowned and aureoled.	6	···/˘˘
--All things return to dust	6	··˘/··
Save beauties fashioned well.	6	·/˘/˘·
The bust	2	··
Outlasts the citadel.	6	˘/·/˘·
Oft doth the ploughman's heel,	6	······
Breaking an ancient clod,	6	/˘·/˘·
Reveal	2	˘/
A Caesar or a god.	6	·/˘···
The gods, too, die, alas!	6	····˘/
But deathless and more strong	6	·/˘···
Than brass	2	··
Remains the sovereign song.	6	˘/·/˘·
Chisel and carve and file,	6	/˘····
Till thy vague dream imprint	6	····˘/
Its smile	2	··
On the unyielding flint.	6	··˘/˘·
An Essay on the work of GEORGE SANTAYANA, written by	15	·˘/·····˘·/˘/˘·
EDMUND GOSSE, is, with the kind permission of the author	14	/˘·····˘/˘··/˘
and the proprietors of the Sunday Times, reprinted	13	··˘/˘··/··˘/˘
overleaf.	3	···

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.

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