The Bayadere
Flaked, drifting clouds hide not the full moon's raysMore than her beautiful bright limbs were hidBy the light veils they burned and blushed amid,Skilled to provoke in soft, lascivious ways,And there was invitation in her voiceAnd laughing lips and wonderful dark eyes,As though above the gates of ParadiseFair verses bade, Be welcome and rejoice!
O'er rugs where mottled blue and green and redBlent in the patterns of the Orient loom,Like a bright butterfly from bloom to bloom,She floated with delicious arms outspread.There was no pose she took, no move she made,But all the feverous, love-envenomed fleshWrapped round as in the gladiator's meshAnd smote as with his triple-forked blade.
I thought that round her sinuous beauty curledFierce exhalations of hot human love, --Around her beauty valuable aboveThe sunny outspread kingdoms of the world;Flowing as ever like a dancing fireFlowed her belled ankles and bejewelled wrists,Around her beauty swept like sanguine mistsThe nimbus of a thousand hearts' desire.
Words in this poem
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- blent p. p.
- Blinded. Also (Chaucer), 3d sing. pres. Blindeth.
- outspread v. t.
- To spread out; to expand; -- usually as a past part. or adj.
- feverous a.
- Affected with fever or ague; feverish. [Cf.F. fiévreux.]
- mesh n.
- The opening or space inclosed by the threads of a net between knot and knot, or the threads inclosing such a space; network; a net. [AS. masc, max, m; akin to D. maas, masche, OHG. masca, Icel. möskvi; cf. Lith. mazgas a knot, megsti to weave nets, to knot.]
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- belled a.
- Hung with a bell or bells.
- nimbus n.
- A circle, or disk, or any indication of radiant light around the heads of divinities, saints, and sovereigns, upon medals, pictures, etc.; a halo. See Aureola, and Glory, n., 5. [L., a rain storm, a rain cloud, the cloudshaped which enveloped the gods when they appeared on earth.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Bayadere 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, The Bayadere, in Poems (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seeger-poems/the-bayadere.html, id L12966.
Form and metre
The Bayadere is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBACDDC. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 46% 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 ABBACDDC raysA · hidB · amidB · waysA · voiceC · eyesD · paradiseD · rejoiceC
- 2 ABBACDDC redA · loomB · bloomB · outspreadA · madeC · fleshD · meshD · bladeC
- 3 ABBACDDC curledA · loveB · aboveB · worldA · fireC · wristsD · mistsD · desireC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Flaked, drifting clouds hide not the full moon's rays | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| More than her beautiful bright limbs were hid | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| By the light veils they burned and blushed amid, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Skilled to provoke in soft, lascivious ways, | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| And there was invitation in her voice | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| And laughing lips and wonderful dark eyes, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| As though above the gates of Paradise | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Fair verses bade, Be welcome and rejoice! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| O'er rugs where mottled blue and green and red | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Blent in the patterns of the Orient loom, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·· |
| Like a bright butterfly from bloom to bloom, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| She floated with delicious arms outspread. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| There was no pose she took, no move she made, | 10 | ·········· |
| But all the feverous, love-envenomed flesh | 11 | ···/˘˘····· |
| Wrapped round as in the gladiator's mesh | 10 | ·····/˘·˘· |
| And smote as with his triple-forked blade. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘· |
| I thought that round her sinuous beauty curled | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Fierce exhalations of hot human love, -- | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Around her beauty valuable above | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| The sunny outspread kingdoms of the world; | 10 | ·/˘˘//˘··· |
| Flowing as ever like a dancing fire | 11 | /˘·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Flowed her belled ankles and bejewelled wrists, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Around her beauty swept like sanguine mists | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The nimbus of a thousand hearts' desire. | 11 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/˘ |
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.