To Mæcenas: Book I: , Ode the First
Mæcenas, from Etrurian Princes sprung,For whom my golden lyre I strung,Friend, Patron, Guardian of its rising song,O mark the Youth, that towers along,With triumph in his air;Proud of Olympic dust, that soilsHis burning cheek and tangled hair!Mark how he spreads the palm, that crown'd his toils!Each look the throbbing hope revealsThat his fleet steeds and kindling wheels,Swept round the skilfully-avoided goal,Shall with illustrious Chiefs his echo'd name enrol.
Who the civic crown obtains,Or bears into his granaries largeThe plenteous tribute of the Libyan Plains;Or he, who watches still a rural charge,O'er his own fields directs the plough,Sees his own fruitage load the bough;These would'st thou tempt to brave the faithless main,And tempt with regal wealth, thy effort should be vain.
The stormy South howls thro' the sullen cloud,Contending billows roar aloud!The Merchant sees the gathering danger rise,And sends a thousand yearning sighsTo his dear shelter'd home.--Its shades receive him;--but the tidesGrow smooth;--the wild winds cease to roam;And see!--his new-trimm'd vessel gaily rides!--Fir'd with the hope of wealth, once moreHe quits, so hardly gain'd, the shore;Watches, with eager eye, th' unfurling sail,Nor casts one look behind to the safe, sylvan vale.
The youth of gay, luxurious taste,Breaks, in the ārbutus' soft shade,The precious day with interrupting feast;Or quaffs, by some clear fountain in a glade,The mellow wine of ruby gleam,While in vain the purer streamCourts him, as gently the green bank it laves,To blend th' enfevering draught with its pellucid waves.
Th' uplifted trumpet, and the clarion, send,Confus'd, the mingled clang afar;Lo! while the Matron's tender breast they rend,Her Soldier hails that din of war.--The wood-land Chase desired,Far other sounds the Hunter charms;By the enlivening shout inspired,He breaks from his young Bride's encircling arms;Nor heeds the morning's wintry gale,While his deep-mouth'd hounds inhaleThe tainted breeze, or hold the stag at bay,Or while, from his strong toils, the wild boar bursts away.
THEE bright Learning's ivy crownExalts above a mortal fate;Me shady Groves, light Nymphs, and Satyrs brown,Raise o'er the Crowd, in sweet sequester'd state.And there is heard the Lesbian lute,And there Euterpe's Dorian flute;But, should'st thou rank me with the LYRIC CHOIR,To GLORY's starry heights thy Poet would aspire.--
Words in this poem 19
- etrurian a.
- Of or relating to ancient Etruria, in Italy.
- 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,]
- civic a.
- Relating to, or derived from, a city or citizen; relating to man as a member of society, or to civil affairs. Civic crown (Rom. [L.civicus, fr. civis citizen. See City.]
- libyan a.
- Of or pertaining to Libya, the ancient name of that part of Africa between Egypt and the Atlantic Ocean, or of Africa as a whole.
- fruitage n.
- Fruit, collectively; fruit, in general; fruitery. [F. fruitage.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- aloud adv.
- With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. [Pref. a- + loud.]
- gaily adv.
- Merrily; showily. See gaily. [From Gay.]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- glade n.
- An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest. [Prob. of Scand. origin, and akin to glad, a.; cf. also W. golead, goleuad, a lighting, illumination, fr. goleu light, clear, bright, goleu fwlch glade, lit., a ]
- clarion n.
- A kind of trumpet, whose note is clear and shrill. [OE. clarioun, OF. clarion, F. clairon, LL. clario, claro; so called from its clear tone, fr. L. clarus clear. See Clear.]
- clang v. t.
- To strike together so as to produce a ringing metallic sound. [L. clangere; akin to Gr. clank.]
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
- lesbian a.
- Of or pertaining to the island anciently called Lesbos, now Mitylene, in the Grecian Archipelago.
- dorian a.
- Of or pertaining to the ancient Greeks of Doris; Doric; as, a Dorian fashion.
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- aspire v. t.
- To aspire to; to long for; to try to reach; to mount to.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Mæcenas: Book I: , Ode the First 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, To Mæcenas: Book I: , Ode the First, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/to-m-cenas-book-i-ode-the-first.html, id L09824.
Form and metre
To Mæcenas: Book I: , Ode the First is 60 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 15% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AABBCDCDEEFF sprungA · strungA · songB · alongB · airC · soilsD · hairC · toilsD · revealsE · wheelsE · goalF · enrolF
- 2 ABABCCDD obtainsA · largeB · plainsA · chargeB · ploughC · boughC · mainD · vainD
- 3 AABBCDCDEEFF cloudA · aloudA · riseB · sighsB · homeC · tidesD · roamC · ridesD · moreE · shoreE · sailF · valeF
- 4 -A-ABBCC taste · shadeA · feast · gladeA · gleamB · streamB · lavesC · wavesC
- 5 A-A-BCBCDDEE sendA · afar · rendA · war · desiredB · charmsC · inspiredB · armsC · galeD · inhaleD · bayE · awayE
- 6 ABABCC-- crownA · fateB · brownA · stateB · luteC · fluteC · choir · aspire
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Mæcenas, from Etrurian Princes sprung, | 11 | ····˘/˘˘/˘· |
| For whom my golden lyre I strung, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Friend, Patron, Guardian of its rising song, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| O mark the Youth, that towers along, | 9 | ·····/˘˘/ |
| With triumph in his air; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Proud of Olympic dust, that soils | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| His burning cheek and tangled hair! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Mark how he spreads the palm, that crown'd his toils! | 10 | ·········· |
| Each look the throbbing hope reveals | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| That his fleet steeds and kindling wheels, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Swept round the skilfully-avoided goal, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Shall with illustrious Chiefs his echo'd name enrol. | 12 | ··˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Who the civic crown obtains, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Or bears into his granaries large | 8 | ········ |
| The plenteous tribute of the Libyan Plains; | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘··/˘· |
| Or he, who watches still a rural charge, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| O'er his own fields directs the plough, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Sees his own fruitage load the bough; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| These would'st thou tempt to brave the faithless main, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And tempt with regal wealth, thy effort should be vain. | 12 | ···/˘··/˘··· |
| The stormy South howls thro' the sullen cloud, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Contending billows roar aloud! | 8 | ˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The Merchant sees the gathering danger rise, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| And sends a thousand yearning sighs | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| To his dear shelter'd home.-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Its shades receive him;--but the tides | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Grow smooth;--the wild winds cease to roam; | 8 | ········ |
| And see!--his new-trimm'd vessel gaily rides!-- | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Fir'd with the hope of wealth, once more | 9 | /˘······· |
| He quits, so hardly gain'd, the shore; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Watches, with eager eye, th' unfurling sail, | 10 | /˘·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Nor casts one look behind to the safe, sylvan vale. | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| The youth of gay, luxurious taste, | 9 | ····˘/˘˘· |
| Breaks, in the ārbutus' soft shade, | 7 | ······· |
| The precious day with interrupting feast; | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Or quaffs, by some clear fountain in a glade, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The mellow wine of ruby gleam, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| While in vain the purer stream | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Courts him, as gently the green bank it laves, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| To blend th' enfevering draught with its pellucid waves. | 13 | ·········˘/˘· |
| Th' uplifted trumpet, and the clarion, send, | 10 | /˘/˘··/˘˘· |
| Confus'd, the mingled clang afar; | 8 | ˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| Lo! while the Matron's tender breast they rend, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Her Soldier hails that din of war.-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The wood-land Chase desired, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Far other sounds the Hunter charms; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| By the enlivening shout inspired, | 10 | ··˘/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| He breaks from his young Bride's encircling arms; | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Nor heeds the morning's wintry gale, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| While his deep-mouth'd hounds inhale | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| The tainted breeze, or hold the stag at bay, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Or while, from his strong toils, the wild boar bursts away. | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| THEE bright Learning's ivy crown | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Exalts above a mortal fate; | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Me shady Groves, light Nymphs, and Satyrs brown, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Raise o'er the Crowd, in sweet sequester'd state. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| And there is heard the Lesbian lute, | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| And there Euterpe's Dorian flute; | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| But, should'st thou rank me with the LYRIC CHOIR, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| To GLORY's starry heights thy Poet would aspire.-- | 12 | ·/˘/˘··/˘·˘/ |
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.