Fragments II
There was a time when I thought much of Fame,And laid the golden edifice to beThat in the clear light of eternityShould fitly house the glory of my name.
But swifter than my fingers pushed their plan,Over the fair foundation scarce begun,While I with lovers dallied in the sun,The ivy clambered and the rose-vine ran.
And now, too late to see my vision, rise,In place of golden pinnacles and towers,Only some sunny mounds of leaves and flowers,Only beloved of birds and butterflies.
My friends were duped, my favorers deceived;But sometimes, musing sorrowfully there,That flowered wreck has seemed to me so fairI scarce regret the temple unachieved.
Words in this poem
- swifter v. t.
- To tighten, as slack standing rigging, by bringing the opposite shrouds nearer.
- 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]
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fragments II 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, Fragments II, in Poems (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seeger-poems/fragments-ii.html, id L26283.
Form and metre
Fragments II is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBA. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 ABBA fameA · beB · eternityB · nameA
- 2 ABBA planA · begunB · sunB · ranA
- 3 ABBA riseA · towersB · flowersB · butterfliesA
- 4 ABBA deceivedA · thereB · fairB · unachievedA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There was a time when I thought much of Fame, | 10 | ·········· |
| And laid the golden edifice to be | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| That in the clear light of eternity | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Should fitly house the glory of my name. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| But swifter than my fingers pushed their plan, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Over the fair foundation scarce begun, | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| While I with lovers dallied in the sun, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The ivy clambered and the rose-vine ran. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And now, too late to see my vision, rise, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| In place of golden pinnacles and towers, | 11 | ···/˘/˘˘·/˘ |
| Only some sunny mounds of leaves and flowers, | 11 | /˘·/˘····/˘ |
| Only beloved of birds and butterflies. | 10 | /˘˘/···/˘· |
| My friends were duped, my favorers deceived; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| But sometimes, musing sorrowfully there, | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| That flowered wreck has seemed to me so fair | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| I scarce regret the temple unachieved. | 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.