Antinous
Stretched on a sunny bank he lay at rest,Ferns at his elbow, lilies round his knees,With sweet flesh patterned where the cool turf pressed,Flowerlike crept o'er with emerald aphides.Single he couched there, to his circling flocksPiping at times some happy shepherd's tune,Nude, with the warm wind in his golden locks,And arched with the blue Asian afternoon.Past him, gorse-purpled, to the distant coastRolled the clear foothills. There his white-walled town,There, a blue band, the placid Euxine lay.Beyond, on fields of azure light embossedHe watched from noon till dewy eve came downThe summer clouds pile up and fade away.
Words in this poem
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- piping a.
- Playing on a musical pipe. [From Pipe, v.]
- asian a.
- Of or pertaining to Asia; Asiatic. [L. Asianus, Gr. Asia.]
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
- placid a.
- Pleased; contented; unruffied; undisturbed; serene; peaceful; tranquil; quiet; gentle. [L. placidus, originally, pleasing, mild, from placere to please: cf. F. placide. See Please.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Antinous is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #617; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Alan Seeger, Antinous, in Poems (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seeger-poems/antinous.html, id L12951.
Form and metre
Antinous is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 A-A-BCBC-DE-DE restA · knees · pressedA · aphides · flocksB · tuneC · locksB · afternoonC · coast · townD · layE · embossed · downD · awayE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Stretched on a sunny bank he lay at rest, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Ferns at his elbow, lilies round his knees, | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| With sweet flesh patterned where the cool turf pressed, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Flowerlike crept o'er with emerald aphides. | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| Single he couched there, to his circling flocks | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Piping at times some happy shepherd's tune, | 10 | /˘···/˘/˘· |
| Nude, with the warm wind in his golden locks, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And arched with the blue Asian afternoon. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Past him, gorse-purpled, to the distant coast | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Rolled the clear foothills. There his white-walled town, | 10 | ···/······ |
| There, a blue band, the placid Euxine lay. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Beyond, on fields of azure light embossed | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| He watched from noon till dewy eve came down | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The summer clouds pile up and fade away. | 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.