Book III: , Ode the Twenty-Third
My Phidyle, retir'd in shady wild,If thou thy virgin hands shalt suppliant raise,If primal fruits are on thy altars pil'd,And incense pure thy duteous care conveys,To sooth the LARES, when the moon adorns,With their first modest light, her taper horns;
And if we pierce the throat of infant swine,A frugal victim, not the baleful breathOf the moist South shall blast our tender vine;Nor shall the lambs sink in untimely deathWhen the unwholesome gales of Autumn blow,And shake the ripe fruit from the bending bough.
Let snowy Algidum's wide vallies feed,Beneath their stately holme, and spreading oak,Or the rich herbage of Albania's mead,The Steer, whose blood on lofty Shrines shall smoke!Red may it stain the Priest's uplifted knife,And glut the higher Powers with costly life!
The rosemary and myrtle's simple crownThou on our household Gods, with decent careArt gently placing; and they will not frown;No stern demand is theirs, that we prepareRich Flocks, and Herds, at Duty's solemn call,And, in the pomp of slaughter, bid them fall.
O! if an innocent hand approach the shrine,The little votive cake it humbly lays,The crackling salt, that makes the altar shine,Flung on the cheerful sacrificial blaze,To the mild LARES shall be grateful foundAs the proud Steer, with all his garlands crown'd.
Words in this poem
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- suppliant a.
- Asking earnestly and submissively; entreating; beseeching; supplicating. [F., p.pr. of supplier to entreat, L. supplicare. See Supplicate, and cf. Supplicant.]
- primal a.
- First; primary; original; chief. [LL. primalis, fr. L. primus the first. See Prime, a.]
- duteous a.
- Fulfilling duty; dutiful; having the sentiments due to a superior, or to one to whom respect or service is owed; obedient; as, a duteous son or daughter. [From Duty.]
- sooth a.
- True; faithful; trustworthy. [OE. soth, AS. s, for san; akin to OS. s, OHG. sand, Icel. sannr, Sw. sann, Dan. sand, Skr. sat, sant, real, genuine, present, being; properly p. pr. from a root]
- 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,]
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
- votive a.
- Given by vow, or in fulfillment of a vow; consecrated by a vow; devoted; as, votive offerings; a votive tablet. [L. votivus, fr. votum a vow: cf. F. votif. See Vow.]
- humbly adv.
- With humility; lowly.
- sacrificial a.
- Of or pertaining to sacrifice or sacrifices; consisting in sacrifice; performing sacrifice.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book III: , Ode the Twenty-Third is in the public domain. This text is taken from Original sonnets on various subjects; and odes paraphrased from Horace, Project Gutenberg ebook #27663; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Anna Seward, Book III: , Ode the Twenty-Third, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/book-iii-ode-the-twenty-third.html, id L09841.
Form and metre
Book III: , Ode the Twenty-Third is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 20% 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 wildA · raiseB · pil'dA · conveysB · adornsC · hornsC
- 2 ABAB-- swineA · breathB · vineA · deathB · blow · bough
- 3 ABABCC feedA · oakB · meadA · smokeB · knifeC · lifeC
- 4 ABABCC crownA · careB · frownA · prepareB · callC · fallC
- 5 ABABCC shrineA · laysB · shineA · blazeB · foundC · crown'dC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| My Phidyle, retir'd in shady wild, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| If thou thy virgin hands shalt suppliant raise, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘˘· |
| If primal fruits are on thy altars pil'd, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And incense pure thy duteous care conveys, | 11 | ·˘/··/˘˘·˘/ |
| To sooth the LARES, when the moon adorns, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| With their first modest light, her taper horns; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And if we pierce the throat of infant swine, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| A frugal victim, not the baleful breath | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Of the moist South shall blast our tender vine; | 10 | ······//˘· |
| Nor shall the lambs sink in untimely death | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| When the unwholesome gales of Autumn blow, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| And shake the ripe fruit from the bending bough. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Let snowy Algidum's wide vallies feed, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Beneath their stately holme, and spreading oak, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Or the rich herbage of Albania's mead, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| The Steer, whose blood on lofty Shrines shall smoke! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Red may it stain the Priest's uplifted knife, | 10 | ······/˘˘· |
| And glut the higher Powers with costly life! | 10 | ···//˘·/˘· |
| The rosemary and myrtle's simple crown | 10 | ·/·˘·/˘/˘· |
| Thou on our household Gods, with decent care | 10 | ··//···/˘· |
| Art gently placing; and they will not frown; | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| No stern demand is theirs, that we prepare | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| Rich Flocks, and Herds, at Duty's solemn call, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And, in the pomp of slaughter, bid them fall. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| O! if an innocent hand approach the shrine, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| The little votive cake it humbly lays, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| The crackling salt, that makes the altar shine, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Flung on the cheerful sacrificial blaze, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| To the mild LARES shall be grateful found | 9 | ······/˘· |
| As the proud Steer, with all his garlands crown'd. | 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.