Odes I
What god will choose me from this labouring nationTo worship him afar, with inward gladness,At sunset and at sunrise, in some PersianGarden of roses;
Or under the full moon, in rapturous silence,Charmed by the trickling fountain, and the moaningOf the death-hallowed cypress, and the myrtleHallowed by Venus?
O for a chamber in an eastern tower,Spacious and empty, roofed in odorous cedar,A silken soft divan, a woven carpetRich, many-coloured;
A jug that, poised on her firm head, a negressFetched from the well; a window to the ocean,Lest of the stormy world too deep seclusionMake me forgetful!
Thence I might watch the vessel-bearing watersBeat the slow pulses of the life eternal,Bringing of nature's universal travailInfinite echoes;
And there at even I might stand and listenTo thrum of distant lutes and dying voicesChanting the ditty an Arabian captiveSang to Darius.
So would I dream awhile, and ease a littleThe soul long stifled and the straitened spirit,Tasting new pleasures in a far-off countrySacred to beauty.
Words in this poem
- labouring a.
- That labors; performing labor; esp., performing coarse, heavy work, not requiring skill also, set apart for labor; as, laboring days.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- divan n.
- A book; esp., a collection of poems written by one author; as, the divan of Hafiz. [Persia] [Per. diwan a book of many leaves, an account book, a collection of books, a senate, council: cf. Ar. daiwan, F. divan.]
- negress n.
- A black woman; a female negro. [Cf. F. négrese, fem. of négre a negro. See Negro.]
- forgetful a.
- Apt to forget; easily losing remembrance; as, a forgetful man should use helps to strengthen his memory.
- thrum n.
- One of the ends of weaver's threads; hence, any soft, short threads or tufts resembling these. [OE. thrum, throm; akin to OD. drom, D. dreum, G. trumm, lump, end, fragment, OHG. drum end, Icel. edge, brim, and L. terminus a limit, term. Cf. Term.]
- ditty n.
- A saying or utterance; especially, one that is short and frequently repeated; a theme. [OE. dite, OF. ditié, fr. L. dictatum, p. p. neut. of dictare to say often, dictate, compose. See Dictate, v. t.]
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Odes I 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, Odes I, in Poems (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49721, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/santayana-poems/odes-i.html, id L21733.
Form and metre
Odes I is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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.
- 5 -AA- waters · eternalA · travailA · echoes
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 |
|---|---|---|
| What god will choose me from this labouring nation | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| To worship him afar, with inward gladness, | 11 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘/˘ |
| At sunset and at sunrise, in some Persian | 11 | ·/···/···/˘ |
| Garden of roses; | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Or under the full moon, in rapturous silence, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Charmed by the trickling fountain, and the moaning | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Of the death-hallowed cypress, and the myrtle | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Hallowed by Venus? | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| O for a chamber in an eastern tower, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Spacious and empty, roofed in odorous cedar, | 11 | /˘·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| A silken soft divan, a woven carpet | 11 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Rich, many-coloured; | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| A jug that, poised on her firm head, a negress | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Fetched from the well; a window to the ocean, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Lest of the stormy world too deep seclusion | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| Make me forgetful! | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Thence I might watch the vessel-bearing waters | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| Beat the slow pulses of the life eternal, | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| Bringing of nature's universal travail | 11 | /˘·/˘·˘/˘˘/ |
| Infinite echoes; | 5 | /˘˘/˘ |
| And there at even I might stand and listen | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| To thrum of distant lutes and dying voices | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Chanting the ditty an Arabian captive | 11 | /˘·/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Sang to Darius. | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| So would I dream awhile, and ease a little | 11 | ····˘/···/˘ |
| The soul long stifled and the straitened spirit, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Tasting new pleasures in a far-off country | 11 | /˘·/˘····/˘ |
| Sacred to beauty. | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
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.