Fragments III
For there were nights . . . my love to him whose browHas glistened with the spoils of nights like those,Home turning as a conqueror turns home,What time green dawn down every street uprearsArches of triumph! He has drained as wellJoy's perfumed bowl and cried as I have cried:Be Fame their mistress whom Love passes by.This only matters: from some flowery bed,Laden with sweetness like a homing bee,If one have known what bliss it is to come,Bearing on hands and breast and laughing lipsThe fragrance of his youth's dear rose. To himThe hills have bared their treasure, the far cloudsUnveiled the vision that o'er summer seasDrew on his thirsting arms. This last thing known,He can court danger, laugh at perilous odds,And, pillowed on a memory so sweet,Unto oblivious eternityWithout regret yield his victorious soul,The blessed pilgrim of a vow fulfilled.
Words in this poem
- homing a.
- Home-returning; -- used specifically of carrier pigeons.
- odds n.
- Difference in favor of one and against another; excess of one of two things or numbers over the other; inequality; advantage; superiority; hence, excess of chances; probability. [See Odd, a.]
- pillowed a.
- Provided with a pillow or pillows; having the head resting on, or as on, a pillow.
- oblivious a.
- Promoting oblivion; causing forgetfulness. [L.obliviosus: cf.F. oblivieux.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fragments III 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 III, in Poems (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seeger-poems/fragments-iii.html, id L26284.
Form and metre
Fragments III is 20 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%).
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----------- brow · those · home · uprears · well · cried · byA · bed · beeA · come · lips · him · clouds · seas · known · odds · sweet · eternity · soul · fulfilled
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 |
|---|---|---|
| For there were nights . . . my love to him whose brow | 10 | ·········· |
| Has glistened with the spoils of nights like those, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Home turning as a conqueror turns home, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| What time green dawn down every street uprears | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Arches of triumph! He has drained as well | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Joy's perfumed bowl and cried as I have cried: | 10 | ·˘/······· |
| Be Fame their mistress whom Love passes by. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| This only matters: from some flowery bed, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Laden with sweetness like a homing bee, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| If one have known what bliss it is to come, | 10 | ·········· |
| Bearing on hands and breast and laughing lips | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| The fragrance of his youth's dear rose. To him | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The hills have bared their treasure, the far clouds | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Unveiled the vision that o'er summer seas | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| Drew on his thirsting arms. This last thing known, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| He can court danger, laugh at perilous odds, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And, pillowed on a memory so sweet, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| Unto oblivious eternity | 10 | ··˘/˘˘˘/˘˘ |
| Without regret yield his victorious soul, | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| The blessed pilgrim of a vow fulfilled. | 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.