Tezcotzinco
Though thou art now a ruin bare and cold,Thou wert sometime the garden of a king.The birds have sought a lovelier place to sing.The flowers are few. It was not so of old.It was not thus when hand in hand there strolledThrough arbors perfumed with undying SpringBare bodies beautiful, brown, glistening,Decked with green plumes and rings of yellow gold.Do you suppose the herdsman sometimes hearsVague echoes borne beneath the moon's pale rayFrom those old, old, far-off, forgotten years?Who knows? Here where his ancient kings held swayHe stands. Their names are strangers to his ears.Even their memory has passed away.
Words in this poem
- sometime adv.
- At a past time indefinitely referred to; once; formerly.
- undying a.
- Not dying; imperishable; unending; immortal; as, the undying souls of men.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Tezcotzinco 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, Tezcotzinco, in Poems (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seeger-poems/tezcotzinco.html, id L12957.
Form and metre
Tezcotzinco is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDCD, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other Italian sonnets, 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 ABBAABBACDCDCD coldA · kingB · singB · oldA · strolledA · springB · glisteningB · goldA · hearsC · rayD · yearsC · swayD · earsC · awayD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Though thou art now a ruin bare and cold, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Thou wert sometime the garden of a king. | 10 | ··/··/˘··· |
| The birds have sought a lovelier place to sing. | 11 | ··········· |
| The flowers are few. It was not so of old. | 10 | ·/········ |
| It was not thus when hand in hand there strolled | 10 | ·········· |
| Through arbors perfumed with undying Spring | 10 | ·/˘˘/·˘/˘· |
| Bare bodies beautiful, brown, glistening, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| Decked with green plumes and rings of yellow gold. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Do you suppose the herdsman sometimes hears | 10 | ··˘/···/·· |
| Vague echoes borne beneath the moon's pale ray | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| From those old, old, far-off, forgotten years? | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Who knows? Here where his ancient kings held sway | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| He stands. Their names are strangers to his ears. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Even their memory has passed 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.