Sybaris

George Santayana (1863–1952) · 1922

iambic pentameter · AABBB · 70 lines · from Poems

Lap, ripple, lap, Icarian wave, the sandAlong the ruins of this piteous land;Murmur the praises of a lost delight,And soothe the aching of my starved sightWith sheen of mirrored beauties, caught aright.

Here stood enchanted palaces of old,All veined porphyry and burnished gold;Here matrons and slight maidens sat aloofBeneath cool porches, rich with Tyrian woofHung from the carven rafters of the roof.

Here in a mart a swarthy turbaned braveShowed the wrought blade or praised the naked slave."Touch with your finger-tips this edge of steel,"Quoth he, "and see this lad, from head to heelLike a bronze Cupid. Feel, my masters, feel."

Here Aphrodite filled with frenzied loveThe dark recesses of her murmurous grove.The doves that haunted it, the winds that sighed,Were souls of youths that in her coverts died,And hopes of heroes strewed her garden wide.

Under her shades a narrow brazen gateLed to the courts of Ares and of Fate.Who entered breathed the unutterable prayerOf cruel hearts, and death was worshipped there,And men went thence enfranchised by despair.

Here the proud athlete in the baths delayed,While a cool fountain on his shoulders played,Then in fine linen swathed his breast and thighs,And silent, myrtle crowned, with serious eyes,Stepped forth to list the wranglings of the wise.

A sage stalked by, his ragged mantle boundAbout his brows; his eyes perused the ground;He conned the number of the cube and squareOf the moon's orb; his horny feet and bareTrampled the lilies carpeting the stair.

A jasper terrace hung above the seaWhere the King supped with his beloved three:The Libyan chanted of her native landIn raucous melody, the Indian fanned,And the huge mastiff licked his master's hand.

Below, alone, despairing of the gale,A crouching sailor furled the saffron sail;Then rose, breathed deep, and plunged in the lagoon.A mermaid spied his glistening limbs: her croonEnticed him down; her cold arms choked him soon.

And the King laughed, filled full his jewelled bowl,And drinking mused: "What know we of the soul?What magic, perfecting her harmony,Have these red drops that so attune her key,Or those of brine that set the wretched free?

"If death should change me, as old fables feign,Into some slave or beast, to purge with painMy lordly pleasures, let my torment beStill to behold thee, Sybaris, and seeThe sacred horror of thy loves and thee.

"Be thou my hell, my dumb eternal grief,But spare thy King the madness of belief,The brutish faith of ignorant desireThat strives and wanders. Let the visible fireOf beauty torture me. That doom is higher.

"I wear the crown of life. The rose and gemTwine with the pale gold of my diadem.Nature, long secret, hath unveiled to meAnd proved her vile. Her wanton bosoms beMy pillow now. I know her, I am free."

He spoke, and smiling stretched a languid hand,And music burst in mighty chords and blandOf harp and flute and cymbal.--When betweenTwo cypresses the large moon rose, her sheenSilvered the nymphs' feet, tripping o'er the green.

Words in this poem 27

icarian a.: Soaring too high for safety, like Icarus; adventurous in flight.
soothe v. t.: To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
aching a.: That aches; continuously painful. See Ache.
sheen v. i.: To shine; to glisten.
aright adv.: Rightly; correctly; in a right way or form; without mistake or crime; as, to worship God aright. [Pref. a- + right.]
enchanted a.: Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
tyrian a.: Of or pertaining to Tyre or its people.
carven a.: Wrought by carving; ornamented by carvings; carved.
mart v. t.: To buy or sell in, or as in, a mart.
turbaned a.: Wearing a turban.
quoth v. t.: Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
cupid: The god of love, son of Venus; usually represented as a naked, winged boy with bow and arrow. [L.Cupido, fr. cupido desire, desire of love, fr. cupidus. See Cupidity.]
aphrodite n.: The Greek goddess of love, corresponding to the Venus of the Romans.
murmurous a.: Attended with murmurs; exciting murmurs or complaint; murmuring. [Cf. L. murmuriosus, OF. murmuros.]
haunted a.: Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
went n.: Course; way; path; journey; direction.
carpeting n.: 1. The act of covering with carpets.
libyan a.: Of or pertaining to Libya, the ancient name of that part of Africa between Egypt and the Atlantic Ocean, or of Africa as a whole.
raucous a.: Hoarse; harsh; rough; as, a raucous, thick tone. [L. raucus.]
despairing a.: Feeling or expressing despair; hopeless.
lagoon n.: A shallow sound, channel, pond, or lake, especially one into which the sea flows; as, the lagoons of Venice. [It. or Sp. laguna, L. lacuna ditch, pool, pond,lacus lake. See Lake, and cf. Lacuna.]
mermaid n.: A fabled marine creature, typically represented as having the upper part like that of a woman, and the lower like a fish; a sea nymph, sea woman, or woman fish. [AS. mere lake, sea. See Mere lake, and maid.]
croon v. i.: To make a continuous hollow moan, as cattle do when in pain.
attune v. t.: To tune or put in tune; to make melodious; to adjust, as one sound or musical instrument to another; as, to attune the voice to a harp. [Pref. ad- + tune.]
brutish a.: Pertaining to, or resembling, a brute or brutes; of a cruel, gross, and stupid nature; coarse; unfeeling; unintelligent.
spoke n.: The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
cymbal n.: A musical instrument used by the ancients. It is supposed to have been similar to the modern kettle drum, though perhaps smaller. [OE. cimbale, simbale, OF. cimbale, F. cymbale, L. cymbalum, fr. Gr. kubha pot. Cf. Chime.]

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

About this text

Sybaris 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, Sybaris, in Poems (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49721, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/santayana-poems/sybaris.html, id L21743.

Form and metre

Sybaris is 70 lines in 14 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABBB, complete in 12 of its 14 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).

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.

1 AABBB sand^A · land^A · delight^B · sight^B · aright^B
2 AABBB old^A · gold^A · aloof^B · woof^B · roof^B
3 AABBB brave^A · slave^A · steel^B · heel^B · feel^B
4 --AAA love · grove · sighed^A · died^A · wide^A
5 AABBB gate^A · fate^A · prayer^B · there^B · despair^B
6 AABBB delayed^A · played^A · thighs^B · eyes^B · wise^B
7 AABBB bound^A · ground^A · square^B · bare^B · stair^B
8 AABBB sea^A · three^A · land^B · fanned^B · hand^B
9 AABBB gale^A · sail^A · lagoon^B · croon^B · soon^B
10 AA-BB bowl^A · soul^A · harmony · key^B · free^B
11 AABBB feign^A · pain^A · be^B · see^B · thee^B
12 AABBB grief^A · belief^A · desire^B · fire^B · higher^B
13 AABBB gem^A · diadem^A · me^B · be^B · free^B
14 AABBB hand^A · bland^A · between^B · sheen^B · green^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 iambic pentameter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
Lap, ripple, lap, Icarian wave, the sand	11	·/˘·˘/˘˘···
Along the ruins of this piteous land;	11	˘/·/˘··/˘˘·
Murmur the praises of a lost delight,	10	/˘·/˘···˘/
And soothe the aching of my starved sight	10	···/˘···˘·
With sheen of mirrored beauties, caught aright.	10	···/˘/˘·˘/
Here stood enchanted palaces of old,	10	··˘/˘/˘˘··
All veined porphyry and burnished gold;	10	··˘/˘˘·/˘·
Here matrons and slight maidens sat aloof	10	·/˘··/˘·˘/
Beneath cool porches, rich with Tyrian woof	11	···/˘··/˘˘·
Hung from the carven rafters of the roof.	10	···/˘/˘···
Here in a mart a swarthy turbaned brave	10	·····/˘/˘·
Showed the wrought blade or praised the naked slave.	10	·······/˘·
"Touch with your finger-tips this edge of steel,"	10	···/˘·····
Quoth he, "and see this lad, from head to heel	10	··········
Like a bronze Cupid. Feel, my masters, feel."	10	···/˘··/˘·
Here Aphrodite filled with frenzied love	10	··˘/˘··/˘·
The dark recesses of her murmurous grove.	10	··/˘··/˘˘·
The doves that haunted it, the winds that sighed,	10	···/˘·····
Were souls of youths that in her coverts died,	10	·······/˘·
And hopes of heroes strewed her garden wide.	10	···/˘··/˘·
Under her shades a narrow brazen gate	10	·····/˘/˘·
Led to the courts of Ares and of Fate.	9	·········
Who entered breathed the unutterable prayer	11	·/˘··˘/˘˘˘·
Of cruel hearts, and death was worshipped there,	10	·/˘····/˘·
And men went thence enfranchised by despair.	10	····˘/··˘/
Here the proud athlete in the baths delayed,	10	···/····˘/
While a cool fountain on his shoulders played,	10	···/˘··/˘·
Then in fine linen swathed his breast and thighs,	10	···/˘·····
And silent, myrtle crowned, with serious eyes,	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Stepped forth to list the wranglings of the wise.	10	·····/˘···
A sage stalked by, his ragged mantle bound	10	·····/˘/˘·
About his brows; his eyes perused the ground;	10	······˘/··
He conned the number of the cube and square	10	···/˘·····
Of the moon's orb; his horny feet and bare	10	·····/˘···
Trampled the lilies carpeting the stair.	10	/˘·/˘/˘˘··
A jasper terrace hung above the sea	10	·/˘/˘·····
Where the King supped with his beloved three:	10	····˘··˘/·
The Libyan chanted of her native land	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
In raucous melody, the Indian fanned,	10	·/˘/˘·/˘˘·
And the huge mastiff licked his master's hand.	10	···/˘··/˘·
Below, alone, despairing of the gale,	10	··˘/˘/˘···
A crouching sailor furled the saffron sail;	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Then rose, breathed deep, and plunged in the lagoon.	10	········˘/
A mermaid spied his glistening limbs: her croon	10	·/···/˘···
Enticed him down; her cold arms choked him soon.	10	˘/········
And the King laughed, filled full his jewelled bowl,	10	·······/˘·
And drinking mused: "What know we of the soul?	10	·/˘·······
What magic, perfecting her harmony,	10	·/˘˘/˘·/˘˘
Have these red drops that so attune her key,	10	······˘/··
Or those of brine that set the wretched free?	10	·······/˘·
"If death should change me, as old fables feign,	10	·······/˘·
Into some slave or beast, to purge with pain	10	··········
My lordly pleasures, let my torment be	10	·/˘/˘··/··
Still to behold thee, Sybaris, and see	10	··˘/······
The sacred horror of thy loves and thee.	10	·/˘/˘·····
"Be thou my hell, my dumb eternal grief,	10	······˘/˘·
But spare thy King the madness of belief,	10	·····/˘·˘/
The brutish faith of ignorant desire	11	·/˘··/˘˘˘/˘
That strives and wanders. Let the visible fire	10	···/˘··/˘/
Of beauty torture me. That doom is higher.	11	·/˘/˘····/˘
"I wear the crown of life. The rose and gem	10	··········
Twine with the pale gold of my diadem.	10	·······/˘·
Nature, long secret, hath unveiled to me	10	/˘·/˘·˘/··
And proved her vile. Her wanton bosoms be	10	·····/˘/˘·
My pillow now. I know her, I am free."	10	·/˘·······
He spoke, and smiling stretched a languid hand,	10	···/˘··/˘·
And music burst in mighty chords and bland	10	·/˘··/˘···
Of harp and flute and cymbal.--When between	10	·····/˘···
Two cypresses the large moon rose, her sheen	10	·/˘˘······
Silvered the nymphs' feet, tripping o'er the green.	10	/˘···/˘···

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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