Before a Statue of Achilles
Behold Pelides with his yellow hair,Proud child of Thetis, hero loved of Jove;Above the frowning of his brows it woveA crown of gold, well combed, with Spartan care.Who might have seen him, sullen, great, and fair,As with the wrongful world he proudly strove,And by high deeds his wilder passion shrove,Mastering love, resentment, and despair.He knew his end, and Phoebus' arrow sureHe braved for fame immortal and a friend,Despising life; and we, who know our end,Know that in our decay he shall endureAnd all our children's hearts to grief inure,With whose first bitter battles his shall blend.
Who brought thee forth, immortal vision, whoIn Phthia or in Tempe brought thee forth?Out of the sunlight and the sapful earthWhat god the simples of thy spirit drew?A goddess rose from the green waves, and threwHer arms about a king, to give thee birth;A centaur, patron of thy boyish mirth,Over the meadows in thy footsteps flew.Now Thessaly forgets thee, and the deepThy keeled bark furrowed answers not thy prayer;But far away new generations keepThy laurels fresh, where branching Isis hemsThe lawns of Oxford round about, or whereEnchanted Eton sits by pleasant Thames.
I gaze on thee as Phidias of oldOr Polyclitus gazed, when first he sawThese hard and shining limbs, without a flaw,And cast his wonder in heroic mould.Unhappy me who only may behold,Nor make immutable and fix in aweA fair immortal form no worm shall gnaw,A tempered mind whose faith was never told!The godlike mien, the lion's lock and eye,The well-knit sinew, utter a brave heartBetter than many words that part by partSpell in strange symbols what serene and wholeIn nature lives, nor can in marble die.The perfect body is itself the soul.
Words in this poem 15
- 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.]
- wove
- p. pr. & rare vb. n. of Weave.
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- shrove v. i.
- To join in the festivities of Shrovetide; hence, to make merry.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- inure v. t.
- To apply in use; to train; to discipline; to use or accustom till use gives little or no pain or inconvenience; to harden; to habituate; to practice habitually. [From pref. in- in + ure use, work. See Ure use, practice, Opera, and cf. Manure.]
- sapful a.
- Abounding in sap; sappy.
- centaur n.
- A fabulous being, represented as half man and half horse.
- boyish a.
- Resembling a boy in a manners or opinions; belonging to a boy; childish; trifling; puerile.
- keeled a.
- Keel-shaped; having a longitudinal prominence on the back; as, a keeled leaf.
- isis n.
- The principal goddess worshiped by the Egyptians. She was regarded as the mother of Horus, and the sister and wife of Osiris.
- enchanted a.
- Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
- immutable a.
- Not mutable; not capable or susceptible of change; unchangeable; unalterable. [L. immutabilis; pref. im- not + mutabilis mutable. See Mutable.]
- sinew n.
- A tendon or tendonous tissue. See Tendon. [OE. sinewe, senewe, AS. sinu, seonu; akin to D. zenuw, OHG. senawa, G. sehne, Icel. sin, Sw. sena, Dan. sene; cf. Skr. snava. sq. root290.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Before a Statue of Achilles 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, Before a Statue of Achilles, in Poems (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49721, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/santayana-poems/before-a-statue-of-achilles.html, id L21731.
Form and metre
Before a Statue of Achilles is 42 lines in 3 stanzas of 14 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 52% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 ABBAABBACDDCCD hairA · joveB · woveB · careA · fairA · stroveB · shroveB · despairA · sureC · friendD · endD · endureC · inureC · blendD
- 2 A-BAABBACDCEDE whoA · forth · earthB · drewA · threwA · birthB · mirthB · flewA · deepC · prayerD · keepC · hemsE · whereD · thamesE
- 3 ABBAABBACDDECE oldA · sawB · flawB · mouldA · beholdA · aweB · gnawB · toldA · eyeC · heartD · partD · wholeE · dieC · soulE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Behold Pelides with his yellow hair, | 9 | ˘/····/˘· |
| Proud child of Thetis, hero loved of Jove; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Above the frowning of his brows it wove | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| A crown of gold, well combed, with Spartan care. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Who might have seen him, sullen, great, and fair, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| As with the wrongful world he proudly strove, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And by high deeds his wilder passion shrove, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Mastering love, resentment, and despair. | 10 | /˘˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| He knew his end, and Phoebus' arrow sure | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| He braved for fame immortal and a friend, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Despising life; and we, who know our end, | 10 | ˘/˘·····/· |
| Know that in our decay he shall endure | 10 | ···/˘/··˘/ |
| And all our children's hearts to grief inure, | 10 | ··//˘···˘/ |
| With whose first bitter battles his shall blend. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Who brought thee forth, immortal vision, who | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| In Phthia or in Tempe brought thee forth? | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Out of the sunlight and the sapful earth | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| What god the simples of thy spirit drew? | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| A goddess rose from the green waves, and threw | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Her arms about a king, to give thee birth; | 10 | ·········· |
| A centaur, patron of thy boyish mirth, | 10 | ·/·/˘··/˘· |
| Over the meadows in thy footsteps flew. | 10 | ···/···/·· |
| Now Thessaly forgets thee, and the deep | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Thy keeled bark furrowed answers not thy prayer; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| But far away new generations keep | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Thy laurels fresh, where branching Isis hems | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| The lawns of Oxford round about, or where | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Enchanted Eton sits by pleasant Thames. | 10 | ˘/˘/˘··/˘· |
| I gaze on thee as Phidias of old | 9 | ········· |
| Or Polyclitus gazed, when first he saw | 10 | ·········· |
| These hard and shining limbs, without a flaw, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And cast his wonder in heroic mould. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Unhappy me who only may behold, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Nor make immutable and fix in awe | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| A fair immortal form no worm shall gnaw, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| A tempered mind whose faith was never told! | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The godlike mien, the lion's lock and eye, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| The well-knit sinew, utter a brave heart | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Better than many words that part by part | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Spell in strange symbols what serene and whole | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| In nature lives, nor can in marble die. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The perfect body is itself the soul. | 10 | ·/·/˘·˘/·· |
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