Dithyramb
Believe me, togetherThe bright gods come ever,Still as of old;Scarce see I Bacchus, the giver of joy,Than comes up fair Eros, the laugh-loving boy,And Phoebus, the stately, behold!
They come near and nearer,The heavenly ones all--The gods with their presenceFill earth as their hall!
Say, how shall I welcome,Human and earthborn,Sons of the sky?Pour out to me--pour the full life that ye live!What to ye, O ye gods! can the mortal one give?
The joys can dwell onlyIn Jupiter's palace--Brimmed bright with your nectar,Oh, reach me the chalice!
"Hebe, the chaliceFill full to the brim!Steep his eyes--steep his eyes in the bath of the dew,Let him dream, while the Styx is concealed from his view,That the life of the gods is for him!"
It murmurs, it sparkles,The fount of delight;The bosom grows tranquil--The eye becomes bright.
Words in this poem
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- giver n.
- One who gives; a donor; a bestower; a grantor; one who imparts or distributes.
- eros n.
- Love; the god of love; -- by earlier writers represented as one of the first and creative gods, by later writers as the son of Aphrodite, equivalent to the Latin god Cupid.
- phoebus n.
- Apollo; the sun god.
- 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,]
- earthborn a.
- Born of the earth; terrigenous; springing originally from the earth; human.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- chalice n.
- A cup or bowl; especially, the cup used in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. [OR. chalis, calice, OF. chalice, calice, F. calice, fr. L. calix, akin to Gr. helmet. Cf. Calice, Calyx.]
- hebe n.
- The goddess of youth, daughter of Jupiter and Juno. She was believed to have the power of restoring youth and beauty to those who had lost them. [L., fr. Gr. "h`bh youth, "H`bh Hebe.]
- styx n.
- The principal river of the lower world, which had to be crossed in passing to the regions of the dead.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dithyramb is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Schiller — Third period, Project Gutenberg ebook #6796; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Friedrich Schiller, Dithyramb, in The Poems of Schiller: Third Period (1805), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/schiller-third-period/dithyramb.html, id L21827.
Form and metre
Dithyramb is 28 lines in 6 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other poems in anapaestic dimeter.
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 --ABBA together · ever · oldA · joyB · boyB · beholdA
- 2 -A-A nearer · allA · presence · hallA
- 3 ---AA welcome · earthborn · sky · liveA · giveA
- 5 -ABBA chalice · brimA · dewB · viewB · himA
- 6 -A-A sparkles · delightA · tranquil · brightA
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 anapaestic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Believe me, together | 6 | ˘/·˘/˘ |
| The bright gods come ever, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Still as of old; | 4 | ···· |
| Scarce see I Bacchus, the giver of joy, | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| Than comes up fair Eros, the laugh-loving boy, | 11 | ····/˘··/˘· |
| And Phoebus, the stately, behold! | 8 | ·/˘·/˘˘/ |
| They come near and nearer, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| The heavenly ones all-- | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| The gods with their presence | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Fill earth as their hall! | 5 | ····· |
| Say, how shall I welcome, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Human and earthborn, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Sons of the sky? | 4 | ···· |
| Pour out to me--pour the full life that ye live! | 11 | ··········· |
| What to ye, O ye gods! can the mortal one give? | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| The joys can dwell only | 6 | ····/˘ |
| In Jupiter's palace-- | 6 | ·/˘˘/˘ |
| Brimmed bright with your nectar, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Oh, reach me the chalice! | 6 | ····/˘ |
| "Hebe, the chalice | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Fill full to the brim! | 5 | ····· |
| Steep his eyes--steep his eyes in the bath of the dew, | 12 | ············ |
| Let him dream, while the Styx is concealed from his view, | 12 | ·······˘/··· |
| That the life of the gods is for him!" | 9 | ········· |
| It murmurs, it sparkles, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| The fount of delight; | 5 | ···˘/ |
| The bosom grows tranquil-- | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| The eye becomes bright. | 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.