Eudaemon
O happiness, I know not what far seas,Blue hills and deep, thy sunny realms surround,That thus in Music's wistful harmoniesAnd concert of sweet soundA rumor steals, from some uncertain shore,Of lovely things outworn or gladness yet in store:
Whether thy beams be pitiful and come,Across the sundering of vanished years,From childhood and the happy fields of home,Like eyes instinct with tearsFelt through green brakes of hedge and apple-boughRound haunts delightful once, desert and silent now;
Or yet if prescience of unrealized loveStartle the breast with each melodious air,And gifts that gentle hands are donors ofStill wait intact somewhere,Furled up all golden in a perfumed placeWithin the folded petals of forthcoming days.
Only forever, in the old unrestOf winds and waters and the varying year,A litany from islands of the blessedAnswers, Not here . . . not here!And over the wide world that wandering cryShall lead my searching heart unsoothed until I die.
Words in this poem
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- wistful a.
- Longing; wishful; desirous. [For wishful; perhaps influenced by wistly, which is probably corrupted from OE. wisly certainly (from Icel. viss certain, akin to E. wit). See Wish.]
- childhood n.
- The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty. [AS. cildhad; cild child + -had. See Child, and hood.]
- intact a.
- Untouched, especially by anything that harms, defiles, or the like; uninjured; undefiled; left complete or entire. Buckle. [L. intactus; pref. in- not + tactus, p. p. of tangere to touch: cf. F. intact. See In- not, and Tact, Tangent.]
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
- forthcoming a.
- Ready or about to appear; making appearance.
- unrest n.
- Want of rest or repose; unquietness; sleeplessness; uneasiness; disquietude.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Eudaemon 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, Eudaemon, in Poems (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seeger-poems/eudaemon.html, id L12967.
Form and metre
Eudaemon is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.7 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% 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 ABABCC seasA · surroundB · harmoniesA · soundB · shoreC · storeC
- 2 ABABCC comeA · yearsB · homeA · tearsB · boughC · nowC
- 3 ABAB-- loveA · airB · ofA · somewhereB · place · days
- 4 ABABCC unrestA · yearB · blessedA · hereB · cryC · dieC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O happiness, I know not what far seas, | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Blue hills and deep, thy sunny realms surround, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| That thus in Music's wistful harmonies | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| And concert of sweet sound | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| A rumor steals, from some uncertain shore, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Of lovely things outworn or gladness yet in store: | 12 | ·/˘····/˘··· |
| Whether thy beams be pitiful and come, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Across the sundering of vanished years, | 10 | ˘/·/˘˘·/˘· |
| From childhood and the happy fields of home, | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| Like eyes instinct with tears | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Felt through green brakes of hedge and apple-bough | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Round haunts delightful once, desert and silent now; | 12 | ··˘/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| Or yet if prescience of unrealized love | 11 | ···/˘·˘/˘·· |
| Startle the breast with each melodious air, | 10 | /˘····˘/˘· |
| And gifts that gentle hands are donors of | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Still wait intact somewhere, | 6 | ··˘//· |
| Furled up all golden in a perfumed place | 10 | ···/˘··˘/· |
| Within the folded petals of forthcoming days. | 12 | ···/˘/˘·//˘· |
| Only forever, in the old unrest | 10 | /˘˘/˘···˘/ |
| Of winds and waters and the varying year, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| A litany from islands of the blessed | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| Answers, Not here . . . not here! | 6 | /˘···· |
| And over the wide world that wandering cry | 10 | ······/˘˘· |
| Shall lead my searching heart unsoothed until I die. | 12 | ···/˘······· |
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